Demonised (Purple Legacy, Part 1 of 5)
by SKdaGamer
Summary: Eight years have passed since Malefor's defeat, and peace was finally among the dragons of Warfang. Cynder still blames herself for her past, and is haunted by it, but it becomes the least of her problems when those around her start to act rather strangely, including the one she is closest to. It isn't long before a dark chaos sets in, and the world must fight for survival.
1. Prologue

**_Purple Legacy_** **is finally here, and so now I give you Part 1, _Demonised_. For those who are new, I have recently finished another _Legend of Spyro_ fanfiction called _Broken Perceptions_ , which is completely unrelated to the _Purple Legacy_ timeline, and I'm currently working on a series called _Fazbear_ , a six-part _Five Nights at Freddy's_ fanfiction series, with _Bitten_ (Part 1) already in progress. I believe _Demonised_ is so much better than the both of them (especially _Fazbear_ ). Also, you may notice that the sneak peek I had up originally for _Demonised_ has been taken down due to the full story starting to be uploaded now, so don't freak out if you can't find it. I hope you all enjoy this, and I will see you around with the next chapter of either _Demonised_ or _Bitten_ , whichever I finish first.**

 **WARNING: This contains lots of very dark themes, as well as frequent graphic violence and imagery, especially in the later chapters of the story.**

* * *

Eight years. That was the amount of time that had passed since Spyro and Cynder had beaten the Dark Master, Malefor. Since their escape from the core of the world, and their return, peace had spread throughout the Dragon Realms. Darkness was gone, and so was Malefor and all his servants. The world had returned to normal when Spyro put the world back together, and, although the times of darkness was over, Spyro and Cynder, mainly the latter, would still have nightmares about the terrifying experience during the Dark War.

Since Cynder began having her nightmares barely a month from returning to Warfang, Spyro had made sure that he could provide her comfort whenever she needed. And it worked for Cynder. Spyro still had nightmares on the occasion, but he was able to handle them himself. Given Cynder's past experience as the Terror of the Skies, her nightmares reminded her too much of the old life she wanted to forget.

This day was like every other one. Normal and peaceful, and, generally uneventful at times. It was the middle of the day, and Spyro was spending some time to himself outside the walls of Warfang, looking out at the wilderness, as he did on the occasion, the adventures of his childhood playing throughout his mind again. He sighed. Deep inside Spyro, he missed the swamp. He missed Sparx and his parents. He hadn't seen Sparx in seven years; the little golden dragonfly had stayed in Warfang for the best of one year before deciding he needed to head back to the swamp, desperate to see his parents. Spyro had lots to tend to, in fixing up Warfang after the war and finding the dragon population that had fled, as well as learning what it meant to be a dragon, especially as the war had distorted his view on what a dragon was quite heavily, and Sparx ended up leaving alone. Spyro wanted so badly to go back to the swamp and visit his foster family, but there was one problem. He hadn't been in the swamp since he was twelve when he left to go seek the Chronicler during the coming of the Night of Eternal Darkness. He was twenty-three now. It had been eleven years since then. Spyro didn't remember the way to go. Neither did any of the dragons. Most of the maps had also been destroyed in the war, and no one had rediscovered the swamp; even the guardians had forgotten its location, as they had fled after the destruction of the Dragon Temple by Malefor's paws.

Spyro groaned as he stood up and went back into Warfang, where he was greeted by plenty of smiling faces and hundreds upon hundreds of dragons. Scout parties had gone out after the Dark War and returned with many dragons that had escaped during the war or had been prisoners, some of which Spyro was a part of. Spyro was a saviour to them. It was true, he had put the world back together, but Cynder had helped plenty, and she was given almost no credit for it, and Spyro hated that. It had taken two, almost three years for the world to get used to her being around and seeing her as different to what she had been in her old life, but even now, many dragons still distrusted her, and most dragons still saw Spyro as the one who saved the world, and Cynder as Spyro's captive. While they had been chained up, Spyro saw no reason for them to be seen as captor and captive, rather, he thought they should have been seen as friends, equals. That was not how the world saw them when they were fifteen.

About twenty minutes passed before Spyro returned to his house, a large stone building, which was four storeys tall. He and Cynder shared the large building to themselves; they were mates after all. When he got home, the building was devoid of any draconic presence. Cynder had probably gone off with her friends or something like that, as she normally did. Cynder struggled to make friends, but strived with a passion to do so. She only had four friends; unlike Spyro, who had no problem making friends, although he had five that he particularly enjoyed spending time with. Spyro hated that his reputation as a hero got in the way of everything and influenced his life. Cynder's reputation as an ex-murderer put her out of the majority of dragons; she only really fit in well with those who didn't fit in well either or those who were like Spyro and saw her for what she truly was, rather than her past doings. Spyro had decided, since the number of people wanting to be close to Spyro was suffocating him and getting in the way of Cynder, that he would decline the majority of the friend requests that were thrown at him and try to be a part of Cynder's friend group, although their friend groups were vastly different.

So, realising he was alone for a bit, with Cynder out and about with her friends, he decided to relax and do what calmed him down. Sure, with the amount of peace in the Dragon Realms, there was plenty of relaxation, but talking, sitting and watching the wilderness, and hanging out with friends, just wasn't enough for Spyro. What he enjoyed was sculpting. He had gotten pretty fond of his earth element for this particular task. He had several finished sculptures on the top floor of the building, and he was beginning to work on yet another one. Currently, the sculpture he was working on was of an ancient race of sea serpents called serpendraxes, that were slender and long, snake-like creatures with no legs, four beady eyes, two heads, each with webbing around the forehead, jawline and chin, and two rows of razor-sharp fangs in the mouths. Serpendraxes had long gone extinct after a war between them and another extinct race of water dwellers called the hydrolixes, which were large fifty-metre-long eels with massive fangs that hung grotesquely out of their maw, two eyes set on each side of the head, and, unlike most eels, had two arms with massive claws as fingers for grabbing and slashing. Since Spyro got into sculpting, he had searched around the major library in Warfang for many books on ancient races, and he'd always thought that the serpendraxes looked elegant yet battle-ready, and he liked that in a creature.

Cynder didn't know where the love for sculpting came from in Spyro, but it was an understatement to say she was quite amazed at the realism and close attention to detail in Spyro's sculptures that were made purely from his earth element, although it was more than just creating a sculpture out of the ground. The design and shaping of the rock took hours upon end, and sometimes, depending if Spyro was having a bad day, which he had quite a lot, he would spend most of the day on the top floor of his home working on his sculptures.

About four years after they returned to Warfang, Spyro began to grow strangely distant on some days. He would just… shut himself away, and no one knew why. He would never talk about it, and whenever he came back out into the world the next day, he would be happy and joyful, with a large smile on his face. It perplexed many, especially Cynder, as the distancing had happened just after they had become mates. Usually when he shut himself away, he'd be doing sculpting, but there were some days where he'd lock himself in his room and do nothing, and it worried Cynder. As of recently, Cynder had not been allowed into Spyro's sculpting room, and he spent a great deal of time in there. It worried her, and she didn't even know what he was making. His sculptures intrigued her; she just wanted to look. But as long as Spyro had found something to cast his mind on when he was troubled, that was all that mattered.

Cynder, however, spent most of her time being social and trying to make friends. She liked having people around her that she could talk to, and she strived to try and mingle around in society, especially given the distance she had from society when she was a child and fresh from her rescue from Malefor's clutches.

Her four main friends were quite an odd bunch, but Cynder felt like she fit in with them. There was Rubblerust, a young twenty-year-old earth dragon, three years younger than her, who was very quiet and introverted, struggling to know what to do in a social situation. He was lonely most of the time, but usually he liked being alone and having small groups of people around him rather than huge crowds. Since Spyro and Cynder returned to Warfang from what was Mount Malefor about a month after Spyro put the world back together, they had tried their best to make Rubblerust feel like he could have someone to talk to. That worked well for him. He was a darker shade of green, and his horns were gold-plated like Spyro's, unlike the dull or pale brown like those of most other earth dragons, like Terrador, for instance. His eyes were a bright green, standing out against his dark green scales, and he had a few scars around his right forepaw from accidentally getting his paw stuck in between two hot metal poles in a blacksmithing station when he was ten.

Then there was an ice dragoness named Freeze. She was small for her age (she was twenty-two, a year younger than Cynder) and was also slightly scrawnier than most dragons. Both her parents went missing when she was five and she hadn't had a home from then until the age of fifteen until a dragon by the name of Pyron, a fire dragon who was also in Cynder's friend group, found her and his family ended up adopting her. Although she was well looked after, she still stayed quite thin, and she didn't grow that much. That caused a lot of problems with bullying, and out of defence for his foster sister, Pyron would get into quite a lot of fights. The fire dragon was covered in scars from those bouts, but he was proud of every single one of them. Freeze's scales were pale blue and had a very evident sheen on them. Her eyes were a royal blue, and her horns were long and straight, coloured indigo. Pyron was a vibrant red colour, and he had horns much resembling Ignitus', the same colour and everything. His facial structure was composed a little differently, and he had small horns pointing out of his jawline and on top of his top jaw, running from above the nostrils to where the jaw connected with the skull in between the eyes. Unlike his foster sister, Pyron was quite large, and his legs carried large muscles. He was twenty-four years old and was nearing his quarter-century hatch-day, which was a big deal for all adolescent dragons.

The last dragon in the group was an electric dragoness who went by the name of Electrika. She was the youngest in the group, being nineteen years old, but she was probably the most mature of them, having been through a lot of torment in her life. Cynder, as the Terror of the Skies, actually took Electrika's family away from her and they worked as slaves, and they eventually died because their bodies couldn't handle the physical stress any longer. Electrika was only three when that happened. An elderly ice dragon named Irrith, who had passed away in his sleep about two years ago, had found her alone and taken her in. Surprisingly, when Cynder found out that she had taken Electrika's family, the young dragoness forgave Cynder, giving the same reason of acceptance as Spyro had – that Malefor had used her as a puppet, and that she wasn't in full control of her actions. Cynder was grateful for that. Electrika had pale yellow scales and a bright blue underbelly, as opposed to the dark, royal blue that most other electric dragons possessed. Her horns curved outwards slightly, and she was quite tall for her age, yet very slender.

On the occasion where Spyro or Cynder were not having time together, or alone, doing what they enjoyed doing, they would be with the guardians, getting over the trauma of the war together, as they had been the most exposed to the conflict than most other dragons had. Hell, Spyro and Cynder were the ones who fought _Malefor_. Most of Spyro's nightmares and problems around Malefor had begun to subside, but Cynder still faced troubles frequently; she knew she could never escape her past, and she kept blaming herself for everything she did, even though she knew it was all Malefor's fault. Either they'd be getting over the trauma, or they'd be going over meetings, political stuff, all the other things that the guardians did. Although the guardians were very highly ranked, and significantly older than Spyro and Cynder, they had formed a strong friendship.

Upon Spyro and Cynder's return from the Mountain of Malefor, they both had become strangely distant when the guardians asked about Ignitus' wellbeing. It was a few days after that when Cynder broke the news to the guardians, so Spyro didn't have to do it, for he was closer to Ignitus. Volteer and Cyril were shaken, but Terrador took it the worst out of the three remaining guardians. Terrador and Ignitus had actually been very close friends in their childhoods; Volteer and Cyril both came from different cities. Terrador had had a hard childhood, and Ignitus was always there to make him happy. They had been there for each other since day one of their schooling, and now the great fire guardian was gone. The earth guardian had taken a while to recover after the horrible news of Ignitus' passing was broken to him, but when he did, he had a different, stronger light in his eyes. He was ready to become the leader of the guardians, and to look for a new fire guardian.

That task of finding a new fire guardian had been a difficult one, and after eight years, the task still proved unsuccessful. There weren't many dragons up to the task, and those that were up to it were arrogant and selfish. Even Spyro had been considered, knowing how strong he was in his fire element. The purple dragon had quickly turned down the offer, as he was the purple dragon, and not only would it seem unfair to the other fire dragons, but he also wielded the other three elements. It wouldn't have worked. So, that meant the guardian party was still at three, but they had not given up on a fourth. They all knew time played its role, and at some point, some fire dragon would appear and would be a perfect fit for the title of the fire guardian.

But even throughout all the drama and trials that the dragons faced, peace had overtaken the Dragon Realms, and it couldn't have been any more real for Spyro and Cynder. They had been exposed to the war as children; they had to _fight_ in the war, something mere children shouldn't have had to do. Peace was only ever a distant dream, a fantasy, for Spyro and Cynder, yet here they were, living in it. It was so welcoming.

But there was fear in the peace. Cynder believed that Spyro worried too much, and many other dragons agree. Cynder wanted very much to put her dark and violent past behind her, which she had done quite easily thanks to the comforting peace. But Spyro still worried that the peace would not last forever. He would tell Cynder that the peace was just time for the darkness to rise and a new war to start. Cynder knew that was true, but she kept telling Spyro to lighten up and to forget.

He couldn't. He was a dragon raised by dragonflies. The violence came all too quickly for the young child to handle. Spyro couldn't forget how quickly his life changed. That change had changed Spyro dramatically, and for the worse.


	2. Chapter 1: Dark Dreams

**Thank you all for 100 views already; the views on this one is shooting up much quicker than _Bitten_ , but I always expected that. _Demonised_ is going to be a fun ride, so I hope you all stick around.**

 **Anyway, I would be responding to reviews now, but I'm going to start throwing them in the A/N after the chapter, so that there isn't a whopping big block of bolded text before the chapter, and that can get annoying to have to scroll past sometimes, so those of you waiting for review responses, they will now be at the bottom of each chapter. This will apply to _Bitten_ as well.**

* * *

Cynder woke up with a shrill scream, jolting backwards and sitting upright. Spyro woke with a startled gasp, Cynder's sudden scream ripping Spyro out of his calm slumber. Spyro quickly calmed himself down and grabbed a hold of Cynder's shoulders in a firm, but comforting hold. The dark purple dragoness was breathing heavily and frantically, whimpering loudly each time she exhaled. "Cynder, calm down. What happened? What was it?" Spyro asked soothingly, keeping his eyes locked onto Cynder's, which appeared to dart around the room as if they were looking for something. "It was another nightmare, wasn't it? Tell me what happened."

Cynder wouldn't answer. She mouthed wordlessly for a few seconds before turning her head to attempt to look behind her. Cynder began to mumble fearfully and feebly, and Spyro's hold on Cynder's shoulders increased. "Cynder, Cynder. Look at me. Cynder. Look. Deep breaths." Spyro ordered gently.

Cynder's eyes found Spyro's and they instantly began to calm, the fear and agitation evident in her red and teary eyes. Spyro felt her body begin to stop heaving uncontrollably from her heavy breaths. The only other thing to feel was her immense shaking. While her composure looked calm, tears still threatened to leave her eyes and her facial expression was one of utter fear and confusion, her head, body and arms shaking vigorously. "Look at me. Tell me what it was about." Spyro pleaded.

The dark purple dragoness took a few moments to find her voice, and then she spoke, her voice quivering and hoarse. "I… I don't really know. It was s-s-so quick a-a-and strange; it wasn't like the other n-n-nightmares I normally h-h-have. All I remember was… a siege. On Warfang, I think. Everything was burning, and odd-looking dragons were everywhere, their jaws and their paws covered in blood. And then there was an… an odd being… hidden in shadows, with ugly red eyes. It came at me, and then everything went black. All I saw were those hideous red eyes and then I heard the word 'd-d-death' in this h-h-h-hi-hideously distorted voice." Cynder stammered. "A-a-a-and then the shadow being reared and I saw jaws lunging towards me. Th-th-that was when I-I-I woke up…"

Spyro didn't know what to make of it. A city under attack, strange dragons covered in blood and a shadow being. Spyro needed to know more. "What did the shadow being look like? Sound like? Was it like anything you remember? Malefor? You? Something else?" Spyro questioned.

"I-I-I-I don't know. The voice wasn't female, nor did the figure appear feminine, so it couldn't have been me. It wasn't Malefor. The voice and body weren't his. I don't know whose it was." Cynder shuddered.

Spyro made a face. He was just as confused as Cynder. Her nightmares were usually memories and reminders of her dark past and the darkness inside her and that she controlled, but this one was completely different, and didn't make any sense _at all_.

Spyro lay back down, yawning. "Well, all I know is that it was just a dream. We can talk to the guardians about it in the morning maybe. Let's get back to sleep." Spyro said, appearing to dismiss the issue as if it was nothing.

Cynder nodded and lay down next to Spyro. She stayed awake for the best of an hour before she got back to sleep, her thoughts controlling her mind and letting fear continue to course through her. The eerie green moonlight of Zella shining through the windows didn't help either. She wondered what the dream meant. Was it just a dream? Was it something that she secretly feared? Was it a glimpse of the future, or a message from it? She knew it could be one of those options, but the dream was so cloudy and misguiding in so many ways that it wasn't possible to distinguish which option it was yet.

Cynder eventually got back to sleep, and her sleep was undisrupted until the sun shone brightly through the windows of the large bedroom, forcing her eyes open as the rays of sunlight entered her vision.

* * *

"Hmmm… intriguing…" Volteer mumbled.

"So, you're saying you saw a siege on Warfang led by a shadowy creature?" Terrador asked.

Cynder nodded. "Did it look like anything you may have seen before?" Terrador questioned, and Cynder hesitated for a moment before she spoke.

"Sort of. I guess it _sort of_ looked like a dragon. But I couldn't tell." Cynder said.

"Would it be Malefor perhaps?" Cyril asked.

"No. It didn't sound like him when the thing spoke at the end of the nightmare. It was too smooth and clear to be Malefor's rough and almost difficult to understand voice. The body wasn't his either. I could tell it was slightly thinner, and the horns were completely different." Cynder explained.

"I'm surprised by how much detail you remember. You would have only seen the shadow's body in full for barely a few seconds." Spyro said, narrowing his eyes and smirking with interest and amazement.

Cynder shrugged. "I'm a bit perplexed by this predicament," Volteer said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "It could be your mind mashing up everything that you have experienced into one multifaceted and horrendous nightmare."

"Should you have another one like it, please come and tell us everything you remember," Terrador said. "This is messing with our heads too, as to what your dreams mean, but I think it could hold some importance."

"Alright. Thank you." Cynder said, smiling thankfully. "Let's go."

Spyro and Cynder spent the rest of the day relaxing. Spyro wanted to take his mind off how disturbing Cynder's nightmare was, so he went up and continued working on his sculpture of the serpendraxes, in which he stayed up in the top floor sculpting for hours. Cynder, however, wanted to get some more rest, going back to sleep to regain her rest and calmness. She only hoped she wouldn't have another nightmare.

She did, but luckily for her, it wasn't as confusing and disturbing as her earlier nightmare. It was only a horrible memory of a dragon city she had destroyed; no survivors had made it out. The memory still brought Cynder to tears, but she was glad it wasn't like her earlier nightmare… vision… whatever one wanted to call it. It was terrifying and seemed as if it was personalised and talking directly to Cynder, especially with what the shadow creature said at the end. It frightened Cynder.

Spyro felt bad for his mate. Her nightmares had recently gotten more frequent even without this new nightmare, and he worried not only for her, but for a secret they had hidden for a while, to save overwhelming crowds, gossip, and embarrassment for the time being, until it was time to reveal it.

An egg.

A _purple_ egg.

Spyro and Cynder knew the prophecies of a purple egg being laid every ten generations, and it had been twenty-three years since Spyro had hatched. Not even one generation was _close_ to passing. A generation for the dragon race was about one hundred years. The generation still had seventy-seven years to go. And even still, there were an extra nine generations needed to pass before the next purple dragon. Spyro and Cynder had consulted the guardians about this (apart from them, they were the only other dragons to know about the egg), and Volteer suggested that it was possibly because Spyro was a purple dragon that another one came so early, due to the purple dragon genes transferred from Spyro.

And Spyro worried that when the time came for the egg to hatch, that with all the screaming and nightmares, the young child wouldn't be able to cope, especially as a newborn, having no clue what would be going on. Spyro could only hope to the ancestors that everything would subside when the egg hatched. He didn't want his child, son or daughter, to be living in a world of fear and struggles. He wanted his child to be happy and live a life without fear. He wanted his child to live a normal life, and to have a normal childhood, among others of his kind, a luxury that Spyro never had.

* * *

Cynder shouted, jolting her head off the ground and gasping heavily, tears brimming in her emerald eyes, which scanned around the darkness of the night. The nightmare was just as disturbing as the first one, probably worse, as the terrible vision kept repeating in Cynder's mind, her heart racing and breath heavy. Her shout, sharp and short, wasn't loud, elongated and shrill like the night before, and Spyro still lay next to her, asleep, however, he groaned as he fidgeted in his sleep. Cynder woke Spyro up. He groaned, and then lifted his head and saw the frantic look on Cynder's eyes. "Another nightmare?" Spyro asked groggily, receiving a quick nod from Cynder. "One of _those_ ones?"

"Yes. One of _those_ ones." Cynder said, not trusting her shaky voice to appear calm.

Spyro groaned as he sat up, several joints cracking as he did so. "What happened this time?" Spyro asked.

"I'd much rather save it for when the guardians are here also, in the morning," Cynder said.

"Better tell someone now, or you may forget." Spyro said. "Please, tell me."

"Alright." Cynder agreed, before telling Spyro what happened.

* * *

"It was… a dark forest, and I was being attacked by these… very gruesome looking dragons. Other dragons were running from them too. They actually looked to be either made of blood, or coated so thickly in blood that their scales weren't visible at all. The blood was set firmly over their eyes, parting slightly to reveal hideous yellow eyes, and long strings of blood setting in between their lips like disgusting string of saliva, and the corner of their mouths were set almost towards where the head and the neck connect at the jaw, with thick strings of blood in between the far reaches of the lips, much like the flabs of skin inside our own mouths." Cynder explained, pausing to let the guardians recompose themselves, obviously disturbed by her gruesome explanation of the hideous creatures chasing after her in the nightmare. "One of them leapt at me, and everything went black, except for those ugly red eyes from the last one. A word was muttered, 'bloodlust', and then those jaws lunged at me again, and I woke up."

There was a minute or two of silence as the guardians tried to get the ghastly, gory and gruesome image out of their minds, but it was almost impossible. Volteer was the first one to speak, "I'm… confused and… completely _revolted_ by that… description of yours..."

"Don't blame me! That's what was in my nightmare! You _wanted_ me to tell you everything!" Cynder argued angrily, her lack of sleep robbing her of her patience.

Spyro put a calming paw on her shoulder, and Cynder's anger quickly subsided. "I'm not blaming you! I'm just confused about why _any_ dragon would have to experience a nightmare as gruesome as _that_!" Volteer clarified, shuddering vigorously.

"Should this just be Cynder's mind freaking out, or a glimpse of the future, much as I hate to think of the latter, we have some serious exploring to do in these nightmares of yours, Cynder," Terrador said gravely.

Cynder nodded sadly. "Why me, though? Haven't I been tormented enough?" Cynder complained.

Spyro put a paw on Cynder's and spoke with a comforting voice. "It's okay, Cynder. There are still some people that know you and love you for who you are _now_. _Not_ for what you used to be. Like your friends. Dwell on those people, and not of those that only see you as what you were back then." Spyro said, before adding, "And I don't think these nightmares have anything to do with you. Should they be a glimpse of the future, I think we need to pay as much attention to these nightmares of yours as possible, given the horrific reality of them."

Cynder held back her tears and nodded once again, silent and solemn. "If you need to talk to anyone, Cynder, it should be those close to you. Us, Spyro, or even your friends." Cyril piped up.

"I know. I'd just like some time alone right now." Cynder said, standing up.

Spyro just looked up at her as she stood. "Go get some rest, Cynder," Spyro suggested.

Cynder nodded and left. Spyro remained in the room with the guardians.

"You could have gone with her. You know, do some sculpting or whatever it is you've been doing recently." Terrador suggested.

"I know… I'm just worried. That egg of ours could hatch any moment. Should these horrific nightmares continue, our child would be scared out of its mind seeing its parents breaking due to the nightmares." Spyro explained, his voice breaking with emotion and fear for his unhatched child. "And should Cynder's nightmares be a glimpse of the future, I want to be as strong as I possibly can to prevent any harm to Cynder and the child. I don't _feel_ strong enough to be able to do that."

The guardians exchanged worried glances, and then looked back at Spyro, looking at his paws, his lips curled into a frown. "Spyro, you're a _purple dragon_. At your age, you're stronger than we possibly could have been when we were your age. Your combined power far succeeds ours. You shouldn't need to worry." Terrador said.

"But I almost died when we fought Malefor; when I put the world back together," Spyro said.

"That was _Malefor_. And you put the whole damn _world_ back into one whole piece. What Cynder's nightmares tell us now is _nothing_ compared to that amount of stress." Cyril explained, his voice low and firm.

"Sure, but the nightmares are only just forming. They could get worse. If they are glimpses of the future, more disturbing stuff could get revealed. I'm worried I'll need more power than when I beat Malefor and put the world back together." Spyro explained.

"What would require more power to beat than _that_?!" Terrador asked.

"I don't know. That's what I'm worried about." Spyro replied.

"I believe you're excessively concerned about practically nothing. I don't think something that wicked will come up just eight years after Malefor's unquestionable annihilation; it's too soon for the ancestors to allow another cloud of darkness to descend upon the Dragon Realms." Volteer said. "You needn't be anxious."

"I know, but I always feel like I'm not enough. That I can't do enough to protect those I love." Spyro groaned. "I know I shouldn't feel like that, but I do."

The guardians exchanged looks and whispered to themselves for a few seconds, and then Terrador turned back towards Spyro and spoke. "We will open the training arena for you, should you feel uncomfortable with how this is all going. I guess it _has_ been eight years since we've all had to partake in a full-on battle, and those nightmares Cynder's having are slightly worrying, given the beasts in them. We don't want to be scratchy." Terrador explained. "But I don't think we'll be able to teach you any more of your elements. You're experienced enough in them, and apart from the very advanced stuff, there's not much else to do than explore what your element can do and push the limit."

"Sort of like what I've been doing with my sculpting?" Spyro questioned.

"Yeah! Like that!" Cyril exclaimed. "Just… do it with ice, next time!"

"Cyril…" Terrador groaned, not going any further, his glare spilling enough words to the egotistic ice guardian.

"Sorry… I did it again, didn't I?" Cyril asked.

Terrador nodded slightly, glaring at Cyril. They had talked about Cyril's self-praise. Cyril didn't fully know when he was doing it, and he had to get Terrador or Volteer to tell him, or anyone else really, although he only listened to Terrador (if Ignitus were still alive, he would have _definitely_ listened to the fire guardian). Whenever Volteer told Cyril he was talking about himself highly, Cyril would just tell him to stop using dictionary language and only _then_ would he stop talking about himself. Then a big argument would flare up, and Terrador would always end up having to break it up and yell at the two guardians. Now Terrador knew how Ignitus felt, the fire guardian being the previous leader of the guardians. Ignitus had had to even break up fights Terrador was in, but with Ignitus gone and Terrador taking his place as the leader of the guardians, Terrador had needed to learn to be more responsible for his own actions.

Spyro stood up and thanked the guardians, then walked out of the Warfang Temple towards his home, yawning widely, displaying his large fangs. He went home and decided to go back to sleep; he had had trouble going to sleep the night before, his thoughts dwelling on Cynder's horrific nightmares. He'd only been asleep for an hour before Cynder woke up with her second vision. He never got back to sleep after that, his thoughts focused on Cynder's description of the blood monsters and fear filling his heart.

The purple dragon fell asleep quite quickly, his sleep deprivation forcing a burden onto his eyelids.

* * *

 **This may seem cliché, with Spyro and Cynder's child being purple and all, but I assure you, some of the events around this whole thing will not be what you're expecting. Also, just putting this out there, my explanation of the unnamed blood monsters was when I began to experiment with how far I can go with gore content. It'll get much worse later down the track. I promise. And more time skipping than usual (sorry); events are slightly jumpy for the first six chapters until things start to get real.**

 **Onto reviews now; there's only two, but I will respond to both of them. To 'lord typhlosion' (and mixing into my response to 'Derick Lindsey's' review), I did say back in _Broken Perceptions_ that I was going to try and get three or four chapters out on _Bitten_ before I posted this, and that time has come. _Demonised_ will always be a bigger priority over the _Fazbear_ series, but I will continue to write it, because there are some areas in _Fazbear_ that I am still quite happy of. So if you're following _Bitten_ , it will continue.**

 **Going fully to 'Derick Lindsey's' review, I did explain in the Prologue that Spyro was extremely busy in helping rediscover lost dragon populations around the time Sparx left, as well as the fact that he couldn't remember how to get to the swamp and the dragons had no maps of it because the swamp hadn't been rediscovered. Also, Spyro had been having his stages of isolation as well to add to that, another thing that would have put going to the swamp off his mind. I may not have explained it too well in the Prologue, but the explanation I had was heaps more than I originally had, and the original version of the Prologue was just not good enough for that mention of Spyro not going to the swamp. Anyway, you'll find out what's happening to Spyro soon enough, and there's going to be a lot of twists in this series, one of which I'm not sure you'll see coming.**

 **Anyway, with all that done, hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter where a bit of research goes into these nightmares Cynder's been having. In the meantime, what do you make of them?**

 **See you in the next chapter, whether it's _Bitten_ or _Demonised_ , I don't know; it really depends on how I feel and what ideas I get regarding the two (well, I'm actually currently rewriting _Bitten_ 's sequel, to be honest, and posting a chapter of _Bitten_ when I finish a chapter of _Fazbear_ Part 2, just like what I was doing with _Demonised_ and _Broken Perceptions_ a while back).**


	3. Chapter 2: Discovery

**Ha ha, I needed to write a scene between two of the later chapters I've written already, so yay for extra fillers. It was a bit in the story that needed exploring, though, so I kind of had to do it. But I finished it, so here's another chapter for you all (another chapter of _Bitten_ should be coming soon, for those who are currently reading that one).**

 **Anyway, once more, reviews will be after the chapter, so go ahead and read the chapter!**

* * *

Spyro and Cynder slept through the morning. It was noon before they woke up again, re-energised and rested, both their periods of sleep uninterrupted. It was a good feeling. Yesterday had been a bad day, as Spyro and Cynder's minds dwelled only on that nightmare and what it meant. The siege on Warfang. The being of shadows. And now another nightmare added to their confusion and disorder. The bloody dragons. The word 'bloodlust'.

Cynder decided it would be best to spend some time with her friends. She badly needed the company. She needed someone to talk to other than Spyro and the guardians. Spyro, however, quickly rushed over to the training arena, even skipping breakfast (really, it was lunch). Spyro's mind rushed, only thinking of Cynder's nightmares and his wish to get stronger so he could protect Cynder from the inevitable danger that could be coming.

The training arena was empty. Spyro smiled, and walked over to a ring, ready to fight. Stepping into the ring, he concentrated hard, creating about twelve orcs inside the arena, ready to fight. He felt exhilarated; he hadn't felt like this in years. His heart began to pump faster and adrenalin filled his body. He dropped to a crouch as the orcs turned to him and snarled. An orc leapt at Spyro, and he instantly released a large stream of fire that took down the orc, as well as another that had gotten too close. Two more were sent sprawling to the ground but got up quickly. Two orcs leapt on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

Then Spyro did something he never knew he could, and he smirked at the new ability. He channelled his electric powers throughout his body, turning it into an electric bomb. He released the energy, sending lightning bolts flying out in all directions, disintegrating the two orcs on top of him. The eight remaining orcs dodged the bolts that flew at them. The orcs quickly recomposed themselves after staggering about from dodging the electricity that threatened to destroy them, and they quickly flung themselves at Spyro, axes stretched out.

Spyro breathed out a strong beam of electricity, which an orc tried to block with its axe, but the sheer force of the lightning bolt flung the axe out of its hand, leaving it defenceless. Immediately, Spyro lunged at the defenceless orc and bit forcefully into its neck and twisting its head around, immediately killing it. Spyro flung the dead orc into the air, which then disintegrated into black dust as the fake enemy was destroyed. Another orc attacked him, managing to land a hit. The axe slashed across his flank, and Spyro winced in pain, feeling beads of blood dribble down his flank. Snarling angrily, Spyro leapt at the orc, headbutted it, sending it sprawling to the ground, dropping its axe. Spyro leapt on top of it and shoved his claws into the orc's chest, killing it as its heart was pierced.

Six orcs now remained, and Spyro suddenly took them all out at once with a massive burst of fire. Spyro stayed in his crouch for a few moments before straightening and, with a huff, blew all the smoke out of his nose. _Malefor has really made me strong. I don't remember being that powerful before that,_ Spyro thought with a chuckle. _I really must thank him._

"No. He was the enemy." Spyro groaned out loud. "There's no way I'm thanking that monster."

 _But he made you stronger,_ Spyro thought again. _Don't deny it._

"No. Resist it. Resist it," he grunted. "What is going on?"

He fought it out in his head for a little while longer, once side wanting to thank Malefor for making him strong, the other wanting to have nothing to do with the now-deceased Dark Master. He had no idea what was making him think these thoughts. Eventually, the voices died away.

But Spyro wasn't finished in the ring. After fighting the orcs, he knew he was too powerful for them. He needed a challenge. So he concentrated hard, _real_ hard. The concentration strained him, his brain pulsating painfully against the sides of his skull as he tried to create his next opponent.

* * *

"Good afternoon, Cynder. How are you today?" Pyron asked as Cynder walked into the library.

"Exhausted. Physically and mentally." Cynder groaned, sitting down next to Pyron and Freeze. "The past two days have been terrible."

"Why is that, Cynder?" Freeze asked, her voice high-pitched, even though she was twenty-two. "Have people been mean to you again?"

"No. I've just been having these nightmares recently. I don't know what they mean but it feels like they're meant to mean something. They're absolutely terrible, and they're draining my energy." Cynder explained.

"Maybe you could explain them to us." Freeze suggested. "We might be able to help you figure out something. Plus, we're in the library. Books dating back to ancient times are stored here. Maybe we could find something to help."

"Thanks, but they're not really for the faint-hearted. Especially the second one. That one was very gruesome." Cynder said.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that we find out what they mean. Because if you feel like they're meant to mean something, then they probably do. I think we need to figure out what your nightmares mean." Pyron said, his deep voice rough and gravelly.

Cynder looked at Pyron and Freeze. She had known them for a few years, and she knew that they would do anything to help her out. Especially Pyron. He had been willing to give up anything for Freeze, and it seemed like he was willing to do the same for Cynder. Reluctantly, Cynder explained both her nightmares to the two dragons. Immediately, their faces fell. "Look, maybe we should just forget about it. It's not really something I think you should get involved in." Cynder muttered, lowering her head.

"No, Cynder," Pyron said, walking towards her and lifting her head with the tip of his tailblade. "This sounds very serious. You need to get to the bottom of what those dreams mean, and we're going to help you, whether you want it or not."

Cynder blinked, her emerald green eyes tearing up. "Thank you," Cynder said, smiling.

"Have you told the guardians? This might be something that they need to know, as well." Freeze asked.

"Yes, I went to the guardians immediately after having the nightmares," Cynder replied. "They're just as clueless as I am about the dreams."

"Well, the first thing that we need to look for is a book of ancient dragons. Those blood dragons you explained seem really bad, and they could have existed in the past." Pyron suggested. "I propose that we split up and find as many books of old species of dragons that we can."

The three adolescent dragons split up and went searching for books for about an hour before they returned to where they were sitting earlier. Pyron had found about four books, Cynder found two and Freeze found one (although it was the largest one). They searched through their books for several hours, trying to find something that mirrored what Cynder saw of the blood dragons in her nightmare. They attempted searching through dragons that were red, that were made of liquid, or that had yellow eyes. They found nothing.

Until Freeze let out a yelp. "Did they look like this?" she asked, turning her large book so Cynder could see.

"Yes! Yes, exactly like that! Only they were made of blood, but they were composed exactly like that!" Cynder exclaimed.

"What is it? Read it." Pyron said.

Cynder moved the book closer to her as she began to read, "'Leech dragon; their outer layer is composed of dark magic in both liquid and airborne forms, they could enter another dragon's body and steal their magic. Their yellow eyes could sense magic ruptures where dragons moved or attacked. The magic they steal feeds them and gives them life, and the more magic they steal, the stronger they get. The species was important in the Great War of Magic, where they became extinct about five hundred years through the war, ending the Great War. The Great War of Magic ended about two and a half million years ago.'"

"They've been extinct for two and a half million years?! Why are you getting something similar to them in your dreams two and a half million years down the track?" Pyron exclaimed.

"Someone must be trying to bring them back. They sound like a powerful ally. Or enemy. Whatever the affiliation." Freeze suggested.

"But the thing I can't get out of my mind was that instead of being made of dark magic in my dreams, they were made of blood. Someone might be changing their genetics to take on a different form or ability." Cynder theorised.

"But who? And when will they appear?" Pyron asked.

"I don't know. The when isn't my concern, though. It's who. I don't know who it could be, but the fact that _someone_ is bringing them back worries me." Cynder said.

A librarian, a female ice dragon, walked past them. "The library's closing. Could you please leave for the night?" she asked with a kind smile.

"We've been here that long?" Freeze asked.

"Seems like it. But we'd better leave." Pyron asked, standing up and turning to leave.

Cynder and Freeze followed Pyron out of the library, walking out into Warfang, which was tinged red with the sunset. "At least we found something useful," Cynder said. "It might not have been exactly what we were looking for, but the leech dragons are close enough to those blood dragons that there could be some similarities. The form of the dragon was almost exactly the same."

"Should we go tell the guardians about our discovery?" Freeze asked. "This is probably something that they need to know."

Suddenly, there was a loud roar. Everything went silent, and Cynder, Freeze and Pyron exchanged worried glances. "What was that?" Pyron asked.

"I don't know, but it sounded like it came from the training arena," Cynder said. "Spyro said he was going to be training there today. He could be in trouble!"

"Well, we should probably see if he's alright!" Pyron said.

And with that, Cynder, Pyron and Freeze ran off to the training arena, panting heavily. They all stopped to see a large green explosion engulf the training arena. Volteer came up behind them as the smoke disappeared, revealing a half-obliterated training arena, with holes in the walls and ceiling, and huge chunks of earth and ice sticking up out of the ground, with small patches of fire burning on some of the stone blocks that had fallen out of the building.

A voice rung throughout the clearing, one that was all too familiar to Cynder and Volteer. "Yes! I did it!" Spyro shouted as his purple form appeared through the parting clouds of smoke.

Spyro was bruised and battered, although not wounded, apart from a small cut on his flank. He panted heavily, smoke billowing from the corners of his mouth as he laughed. Cynder looked over to a large pile of roof that had fallen down in front of Spyro and saw a large black paw sticking out from underneath it. Before Cynder could tell Volteer, supposing he hadn't already seen it, the paw dissipated into black dust, and the pile of rock fell down without the body to support it.

Cynder looked over at Volteer. He did not look happy. Volteer opened his mouth and spoke. "Spyro, what is this?" Volteer asked sternly.

Spyro's head snapped to look at Volteer. "What is what?" Spyro asked, an odd tone in his voice, but Volteer didn't seem to notice.

What really frightened Cynder was Spyro's eyes. While his bright purple irises were still visible, the white sclerae had a faint glow to them. "What is this preposterous mess, Spyro?!" Volteer repeated.

Spyro's gaze softened and the faint glow disappeared from his eyes as he looked around him and gasping, as if only just realising the damage he had done to the building. "Oh. I must have gotten carried away with my training." Spyro said, all forms of malice suddenly gone from his voice. "I'm sorry, Volteer."

"It's alright. We'll get it fixed in no time. But don't let it happen again." Volteer warned.

"Yes, Volteer," Spyro said, walking over to Cynder, Pyron and Freeze and smiling. "Well, how was your day today, guys?"

"Yeah, good, I guess." Freeze said, shrugging.

Pyron just turned to look at Cynder, who was looking at Spyro with an odd glance. "Cynder, are you alright?" Pyron asked her.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just thought I saw…" Cynder started, cutting herself short when she realised what she was about to say.

"Saw what?" Pyron pushed on.

"N-nothing. It was nothing." Cynder replied. "I'm still kind of exhausted from those nightmares I've been having."

"The nightmares? You told them?" Spyro asked.

"Yeah. I _did_ say that I needed the company to help calm me down. And it'd make more sense to them if I told them about the nightmares." Cynder explained. "Plus, we decided to do some research at the library, and we found something interesting about the dream with the blood dragons."

"Really, now? Can you express what that intriguing topic would be?" Volteer asked, walking up to them finishing the short conversation he was having with one of the earth dragons in charge of construction.

"Well, we had the idea to search for some books about the ancient dragon races to see if the blood dragons had any resemblance to anything, and we found something. The form of the blood dragons exactly resembled an extinct species of dragon called the leech dragon, which had the ability to steal magic from other dragons. They went extinct two and a half million years ago, when the Great War of Magic ended, so I'm confused why a blood version of them have appeared in my dreams." Cynder explained.

"Leech dragon? I think I've heard of them before." Spyro said. "I don't remember where, though. Apparently, they were the most lethal dragon of their time. But yes, my concern is the same as Cynder's. Why are they appearing in her nightmares?"

"I'm just as perplexed as the both of you. I truly am apprehensive about what this all could mean. I'll go and inform Terrador and Cyril and see what they think of this dreary and mystifying complication." Volteer said. "Keep doing some investigation. It is essential that we have as much information as imaginable. Since Cynder's had two nightmares already, and some dots have been connected between nightmare and reality, we need to be prepared for anything."

"Are you sure it's not just a coincidence?" Spyro questioned. "You never know. Dreams can do that."

"I'm not sure it was _just_ a coincidence, Spyro," Cynder said, giving him a stern look, still wary after Spyro's odd reaction when questioned about the damaged training arena earlier. "Those dreams mean _something_ , and I'm determined to find out what that is."

Spyro just shrugged and walked off. Pyron and Freeze looked at each other with confused faces. Cynder rolled her eyes as she turned to follow Spyro. "I'll go talk to him. Anyway, see you guys later." Cynder said.

"Alright. Goodbye, Cynder. I hope you stop having nightmares." Freeze called.

"I doubt it," Cynder replied, breaking into a sprint as she ran after Spyro.

It didn't take long for Spyro to notice Cynder catching up with him. "Hey, Cynder," Spyro said.

"What was that about at the training arena?" Cynder asked, not letting his calm, friendly attitude distract her from her concerns. "What did you create that you had to destroy the arena to beat it?"

"I… I don't remember." Spyro stammered, his gazing tearing away from Cynder. "In fact, I don't remember much of my training today at all."

"Any of it?" Cynder repeated.

"No. Not at all." Spyro replied, shrugging.

 _What? How could he suddenly just lose his memory like that?_ Cynder thought.

"So… this leech dragon thing. Pretty creepy, huh?" Spyro asked, snapping Cynder out of her thoughts.

"What, how they're appearing in my nightmares?" Cynder replied.

"Yeah. Except all… bloody and gory." Spyro added. "I'm not sure what to make of it."

"Me neither. But for now, I'd just like to get some sleep. I'm exhausted." Cynder groaned as she and Spyro turned and entered their house.

Spyro rolled his eyes and groaned with annoyance. "What will it matter, Cynder? You'll probably have another nightmare again." Spyro said.

"I didn't have one this morning. Who knows? That might be the last of them. Those nightmares may have just been bad dreams." Cynder replied, shrugging. "But I still have to be prepared and looking deep into those nightmares. If they mean something, it's definitely a big warning."

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway, see you in the morning, Cynder." Spyro said.

* * *

 **Only one review, but 'IllusionMaster17' proved a good point. He said he was unsure about reading _Demonised_ because of the category 'Tragedy' and reading the word 'gore' in my previous A/N. If I've managed to grab your attention with _Demonised_ , great, but if this gets too intense for you, you can stop reading. This fanfic is rated M for a reason, and it's quite heavy on gore/violent content, and it's also pretty dark, as somewhat evident by the name of the story. Most of the intense gore content comes in at around Chapter 20 and onwards, so there's a bit to go until we hit that spot. But I hope you all stick around, and enjoy!**

 **I'm gonna move on now. Please leave a review because it really helps me out; let me know what you want to see, what you liked and didn't like (don't be too negative about it though unless it's a major problem with the story), and if there's anything I did that could be improved.**

 **See you all!**


	4. Chapter 3: Trauma

**I am so happy with this chapter! This was probably the first of the chapters in _Demonised_ that I was over the moon about, and I'm really excited to finally get this up. But this is where the horror starts to come in (quick, I know), so get prepared for a fun ride.**

 **But thank you all for showing your interest. This is quite a big project (significantly larger than _Broken Perceptions_ ) and I am so happy with it, and I hope you all enjoy it as well.**

* * *

Cynder awoke to find herself in a dark cave tunnel. She groaned, feeling tears well up in her eyes almost immediately, knowing what was going on as a feeling of dread washed over her. It had been five days since the last nightmare, and she, as well as Spyro, the guardians and her friends, thought that her 'nightmare phase', as they called it, was over. _It was going so well,_ Cynder thought. _Well, hopefully they get less frequent, especially with the egg getting close to hatching._

There was a loud bang, followed by a howl, and Cynder went rigid as she waited for a threat to leap out at her. The bang sounded again, and this time a thud followed. A terrified scream sounded, filling Cynder with fear, but it belonged to a different voice. There was the sound of shouting and more loud impact sounds. Cynder felt compelled to run over and see what was going on, but she needed to be careful. She didn't know what she would see. She didn't _want_ to know what she would see. But she walked forward anyway.

A bright yellow light lit up the tunnel from the opening a few metres in front of her, and then there was a hissing sound. Dark, thick smoke bellowed from one side of the room outside the tunnel. Cautiously, Cynder continued to step closer, letting venom settle on the ends of her fangs in case something attacked her.

Cynder left the tunnel and looked to the left and gasped with horror at what she saw. Two earth dragons, male and female, most likely mates, lay dead on the ground in front of her, the male dragon slumped over the dragoness, their gazes clouded and empty and blood spilling from the corner of their mouths. Dark red blood flooded from a large wound covering the entire length of the male dragon's neck, spilling onto the dragoness underneath him, and dripping onto the floor. Two of his claws had been ripped out, leaving ugly stumps. Both of his wings were also missing, spilling huge amounts of dark red liquid spilling down his flanks. The dragoness had several twisted limbs and a missing eye, blood streaming out of the socket, but the injury that would have killed her was the gaping hole in her chest, where heaps of blood flooded out of the wound, the slightly visible ribs covered in the red substance. Her jaws were gaped open in a silent scream, her tongue rolling out of her mouth onto the ground. Cynder noticed that the dragoness' mouth was stained bright red and all her teeth had been plucked out. The blood welled up thick inside the dragoness' mouth, appearing almost black with how thick the welling gore was. Faint tear streaks ran down her cheeks.

Cynder stepped back and gagged, feeling fluids rush up her throat, before she controlled herself and swallowed the burning, bitter fluid. _Who the hell could have done this?!_ Cynder thought, her breath going heavy and sweat beginning to flood her forehead. _In all my years as a murderer for Malefor, I've never been able to get over seeing injuries like this! Hell, I've never even_ seen _injuries like this since Malefor's death! No dragon in their right mind would ever try to cause this much damage to another._

A deep voice interrupted Cynder from her thoughts. "You think that's the worst thing you'll ever see? Well, think again."

Another howl pierced through the air. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw blood splatter onto the ground a few hundred metres down the large corridor from around a corner. Cynder didn't want to see the extent of the damage, but she needed to see who the murderer was. So with that, she ran down the corridor, but when she got there, only the corpse of a malnourished lightning dragon lay in front of her, a gaping, bloody hole in the dragon's forehead and his jaws opened unnaturally wide. Taking a closer look, there was a large rip where both jaws connected, and she realised that something with immense strength had done this, as both jaws were pried apart so much that it ripped the skin around where the jaws met.

The voice spoke again. "These are my slaves. You should remember how the life of a slave works. Especially the torturing part. Oh, how you loved that part. I quite enjoy it, too. But _this_ is my favourite."

Another howl. Cynder burst into tears as she ran towards the sound, only to find yet another corpse, alone, yet covered with immense amounts of blood and with an extreme injury. She didn't stop to look at the details; the only thing she saw was blood and a red body belonging to that of a fire dragon. She looked around hoping to see any sign of the murderer.

Feeling frustration fill her, she let out a shout, "Where are you?! Come and show yourself! And why are you doing this?!"

A roar came from beside her, and she looked beside her to see, for a split second, a crazed grey dragon lunged at her, claws outstretched and jaws opened as if preparing to bite. Then her vision went black as she let out a shriek, which echoed painfully in the void around her.

Deep, evil cackles rose from the darkness, echoing loudly, each new echo adding to the volume, making the laughing unbearably deafening. Cynder screamed in pain as her ears began to ring. Then, like the nightmares before, blinding red eyes opened in front of her, and she let out a shriek as she leapt backwards, almost spinning upside-down due to the lack of gravity in the void. A deep, rumbling voice echoed around her.

"Torture."

* * *

Cynder woke up with a shriek. Spyro, in turn, woke with a jolt, leaping up to all four paws and adjusting himself into a battle-ready crouch. He immediately composed himself when he saw Cynder, an emotional wreck on the ground. Spyro rushed over to Cynder and put a comforting paw on her own as he tried to calm her down. "It's okay, Cynder. What was it? What happened this time?" Spyro questioned gently.

Cynder didn't reply immediately, and she didn't even seem to hear Spyro's question. She just muttered the same thing in between heavy sobs that racked her body. "Blood. So… much… blood," she sobbed.

Spyro instantly knew that this dream was far worse than the other two Cynder had had. He leaned in closer to Cynder and repeated himself, gently, but firmly. "Cynder. What happened?"

Again, Cynder didn't reply directly. "Four of them," she muttered. "Four. So many. Why?"

Spyro felt Cynder's body quaking underneath his paw, and he knew that it would take more than just himself to get her out of shock. Frantic, Spyro knew he needed to get help, but he didn't want to leave Cynder alone. So quickly, in case she snapped out of her shock on her own and found herself alone, he grabbed a small piece of parchment nearby and wrote on it.

 _Going to get help. You're in a lot of shock. Stay here._

 _\- Spyro -_

Spyro placed the note in Cynder's shaking paw and ran off, frantic and panicky. He was lucky it was the middle of the night; there were no dragons out, and he could get to the Warfang Temple as quickly as he could.

He got to the Warfang Temple and slammed open the doors with a rumbling bang, and shouted down the halls long before he even got to the guardians' rooms. "Terrador! Cyril! Volteer! I need help! _Now_!" Spyro roared, tears welling up in his eyes as he imagined Cynder in a broken, emotional mess on her own.

A low growl was heard as Terrador came stomping down the corridor. "Spyro, what in the name of the ancestors are you doing? It's the middle of the damned night," Terrador scowled.

"It's Cynder! She's had a nightmare, a-a-a-and I tried to talk to her a-and she w-won't respond to me because she's in a lot of shock! I need help! _Please_!" Spyro begged, feeling a tear slip down his cheek.

Volteer and Cyril walked up behind Terrador just in time to hear Spyro's explanation for the disruption, and immediately, all three guardians' faces fell. "We'd better go to her, then," Terrador said, his voice quivering.

And with that, Spyro raced off towards his home, the guardians following. They returned to Spyro and Cynder's house at record speed, and Spyro's heart fell to see Cynder in an even worse state. She had a long cut down her left arm, and the claws on her right paw were stained with her own blood. "So much of it… I can't stand the sight of… of…" Cynder stammered, only to be broken off by a heavy sob as she clutched her head and collapsed to the ground in a blubbering mess.

Volteer got beside her and placed a paw on her head, channelling a small beam of electricity through his paw and into her head. There was a small spark, and Cynder's eyes rolled back into her head as she lost consciousness for a split second. She blinked a few times, her eyes returning to their normal position as she slowly sat up. She looked around, confused at the concerned faces surrounding her, and as to why all three of the guardians were inside her house.

Spyro was the first to speak. "Are you alright, Cynder?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"Y-y-yeah," Cynder said, wincing as she felt pain in her left arm, looking down to see the cut across it. "What happened?"

"You must have cut yourself in the midst of your shock," Terrador explained. "Spyro told us you had another nightmare. Can you tell us about it?"

"Oh. That. I just… need a moment to process it. It was… very full-on," Cynder said.

"Take your time," Volteer said gently. "I can't even begin to imagine how bad these nightmares are getting. If you've been falling into this much trauma, this one must have been terrible beyond what words can even say."

There were a few minutes of silence as Cynder recomposed herself, and then she began to explain her dream. This time, she couldn't get through the explanation without shedding tears. The visions were so disturbing that they were still vivid in her mind. She averted her gaze from Spyro and the guardians, but she knew that they were all sharing the same horrified glance. Cynder finished explaining her nightmare to them, and she let out a small whimper as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

Spyro walked up to her and placed a paw on hers. Cynder looked up at Spyro and saw his horrified expression for the first time. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, tears beginning to form in them. His lips were pursed into a thin line and he shook his head, still shocked at Cynder's nightmarish experience. "I'm so sorry you're going through this. But I don't know how to stop it," Spyro said, his voice trembling with fear. "Why are you going through this, Cynder?"

"I don't know, Spyro. Don't ask me," Cynder replied.

But Spyro wasn't done. He threw his head back and let out an agonised howl as if begging to the ancestors. "Hasn't she suffered enough?! Why?! Why must she go through more torture?!" Spyro screamed, his voice quaking heavily as tears streamed down his face. "What does this all mean?!"

"Spyro, calm down. I'm sure the ancestors have a reason for this. Not every dragon has an easy life," Cyril said, his voice low and filled with a tone of sadness Spyro had never heard in Cyril's voice before.

Spyro staggered backwards, breathing heavily and whimpering like a hatchling. He took in a shuddering breath and continued screaming at the air, slamming his forepaw on the ground. "Why have you left us?! What have we done wrong?!" Spyro cried, his voice and breathing getting hoarse. "Is there nothing left the world has to offer for us?! Should we have just let the _damned_ world _die_ all those years ago?! _None_ of this would have happened!"

"How could you even say that, Spyro?!" Cynder asked, standing up and striking Spyro across the face, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Spyro looked up at Cynder, fearful of her hard glance. Spyro and Cynder stared at each other for quite a while, the guardians exchanging worried glances at what they had just witnessed. "These things happen, Spyro," Cynder said, much more calmly this time now that she had Spyro's attention. "Just because we're going through a tough time doesn't mean we should wish the world dead! It doesn't mean that the ancestors have left us! How do you think the many slaves and warriors felt during the war? They went through a much worse hell than having a terrible nightmare. Their life _was_ a nightmare, and I'm partly to blame for that! Don't you think I _deserve_ a little punishment?"

"What Cynder says is all well and true, but what if Cynder isn't experiencing this because it's a punishment? What if she's experiencing this as a glimpse of the future, as a warning? It could be a good thing to have this information if that is true," Terrador explained.

Spyro looked at Cynder and the guardians and sighed. "I guess so. This is just so hard," Spyro groaned. "And why _her_?"

"We can pull through this, I promise," Cynder said.

Spyro's eyes widened as he realised a bigger issue with this, speaking his fears out loud, "But what if this continues going while…?"

There was a resounding crack.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other with fear, and Spyro inwardly cursed himself for speaking his fears out loud. "Well, we can figure that out on the spot," Cynder said quickly, her voice trembling, running over to the purple egg in the nest in the corner of the room.

"Ancestors help us, I'm not ready for this…" Spyro groaned.

"Come on, you'll be fine," Terrador said. "I'll come with you."

Spyro and Terrador walked up to the egg, with Volteer and Cyril following behind. The egg gave four more cracks, each of them more violent than the previous, before it burst open, showing a tiny male purple dragon, that Spyro had to admit looked much like himself when he was a hatchling, vivid memories of staring at his reflection in the Silver River returning to him. The hatchling's horns were nothing but tiny stubs, and they resembled Cynder's horns, being silver in colour and with six around his head, three on each side, creating some sort of crown around his head. His tailblade and back spines were also silver in colour, but they didn't resemble Spyro or Cynder's tailblade or back spines at all. But that didn't matter to them, as love suddenly filled their hearts for their son. The hatchling let out a little sneeze, causing him to fall flat on his back. Cynder went to help lift him back up into a sitting position, but the little hatchling squirmed about, managing to sit himself back up, letting out a little giggle as he did so.

"He's so cute," Cynder said, her eyes tearing up with love.

Slowly, the hatchling opened his eyes, which were bright purple, much like Spyro's. He got his first look at his parents and cooed. Cynder gave the little purple hatchling a nuzzle, causing him to giggle loudly. Spyro gave a small chuckle. Cynder looked up at Spyro. "What should we call him?" she asked.

"Forzen," Spyro replied without hesitation.

"The ancient word for 'strength'?" Cyril questioned.

"He had the strength to pull us out of our dark place earlier. He hatched at just the right time. I think he will have the strength to pull through the tough times in his life. I can feel it and see it in him. I think we need to have the type of strength that he has," Spyro explained.

"You can see all that in him?" Cynder asked.

"I can't explain it… but yes. I feel strength… and persistence… _throbbing_ through him," Spyro said, shrugging.

Cynder looked back to the little hatchling and smiled. "Then Forzen it is," Cynder said as Forzen swiped weakly at her nose, giggling with glee.

"And Spyro's undeniably correct. Through this dark period, we need to have strength to pull through it, something to help us," Volteer said. "Little Forzen here could assist us to do just that."

"He may not understand the situation, but I think Spyro's right. Taking a closer look at him, he's sturdy and strong for his age," Terrador added. "To me, it seems as if he has the strength of both of you combined. He's a strong one, I can tell."

Forzen let out a loud cackle as he fell onto his belly with a thud after trying to stand up. He picked himself up off the ground and returned to his sitting position, beaming with glee.

Cyril gaped his jaws wide in a massive yawn. "We might return to the Warfang Temple," Terrador said with a smile as Cyril clamped his jaws shut and glared at Terrador at his small snicker.

"I agree. I'm somewhat sleep-deprived as well," Volteer said, glaring with a snicker at Cyril.

"We'll leave you two with your son. Goodbye," Terrador said.

"Bye, Terrador. See you later," Spyro said.

And the guardians left, and the new family was left alone, happiness and love among them.

* * *

 **To 'lord typhlosion', I seem to like to pick on Spyro. We also get a bigger look at his depression as he begins to blame the ancestors earlier in the chapter as well, so yeah, call me mean if you want. It's all driving force for the story, and trust me, it's big one, and an emotional and violent one at that. As for the glowing eyes, you'll find out (although I'm sure it should be quite obvious).**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', you learned your lesson from _Broken Perceptions_ in terms of the characters, but I assure you, there's more at play in this one than just Dark Spyro. But yeah, it was fun creating these extra creatures and expanding on the _Legend of Spyro_ universe. It's hard to do, but it's fun, and you can kind of go wild with your ideas. I delve deeper into the history of the Dragon Realms a lot more than I do in _Broken Perceptions_ , so there's a lot of interesting stuff going on. As for Forzen, what do you think about him now? Still sceptical about him?**

 **Anyway, might be a while until next chapter. Got lots going on (exam blocks and stuff ugh), and there's a lot of extra stuff I'm working on that will most likely get in the way of writing, but it's something I enjoy. It's always good to make sure you're doing stuff you like doing and are passionate about.**

 **Well, I'll see you around. Leave reviews or PM them to me or whatever you want to do. We'll see a lot more crap coming our heroes' ways soon as well, so get hyped for that (maybe lol)!**


	5. Chapter 4: Strange Visions

**This chapter's not my best one, but it's better than most of my crappy ones. I'm slowly getting work done on _Demonised_ , although I've got a lot more important stuff to do that's getting in the way of it, but it's all stuff I mainly enjoy, so I'm not that annoyed. And I'm writing much longer chapters now, too, so it may take a while for updates, so I apologise.**

 **But hopefully you all enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Two weeks passed. Cynder had had two more nightmares, but luckily, she had been able to suppress her screams so she didn't scare Forzen. It was also lucky that she hadn't fallen into shock either. Although, she had had these nightmares in the middle of the day while she was napping (the nightmares and endless research had taken a lot out of her), so she hadn't had one in the middle of the night since the 'torture' nightmare, and they hadn't been as intense as the 'torture' nightmare.

Her first nightmare had left her lost and alone in a dark forest, much like the 'bloodlust' nightmare, although instead of an attack from the blood dragons, she found an old, abandoned wooden shack. Cynder had walked into the dusty, dingy shack, and then everything went dark before the red eyes appeared and the word 'trauma' was muttered before she woke up.

Her second nightmare had made her relive Spyro's corruption just after Ignitus died in the Belt of Fire eight years ago. Although this time, it was different. Spyro had attacked her before she could rescue him from the darkness that had claimed his body, and he had broken free from the magic chains that bound them together, his body pulsing with so much raw energy that Cynder got herself badly beaten. Cynder blacked out and the red eyes appeared. The word muttered was 'betrayal', and Cynder now had five words to work within her research: death, bloodlust, torture, trauma, and betrayal.

And she had no idea what they meant.

She had told the guardians, but they were as stumped as she was about what the nightmares meant. Cynder had told Pyron and Freeze about the nightmares as well, as they wanted to help Cynder figure out what the nightmares well, and Pyron and Freeze were confused as well. Cynder had even asked Rubblerust, but he said he had absolutely no idea what the nightmares could mean, and simply dismissed them as 'just nightmares', not willing to believe that they had anything to do with reality.

But aside from the nightmares and the failed research sessions she had had, life was going well for her and Spyro. Forzen had made a few friends, and Pyron and Freeze had come to meet him about five days after he hatched, and Forzen loved the extra company. A few of Forzen's few friends were slightly older than him, aging from about two months to one year, but little two-week-old Forzen didn't care. He loved having others to play with, and he was always his happy self; he'd only ever cried a few times, which was normally when he was hungry, and the one time he stubbed his paw on a cobblestone brick.

But there was something that happened this one day that messed up everything Cynder thought about her dreams. She was doing some research on war and torture, wanting to decipher the dream that had completely put her into shock the night Forzen hatched. She found a page of all the important war leaders that had existed in the past, complete with portraits of them. Malefor was the last one, as Cynder expected, but Cynder turned the page and saw in big purple writing across both pages something that shocked her.

 _Another will succumb to the darkness._

Cynder immediately borrowed the book from the library and flew off quickly to find the guardians. The first guardian she found was Terrador. "Terrador! I think I found something regarding my nightmares!" Cynder cried as she landed next to him.

Terrador turned and looked at Cynder's terror-stricken face. He turned back to the earth dragoness he was talking to and asked her to wait a moment. He then turned back to Cynder and asked her to show him what she had found. She opened to the page with the list of war leaders. "I found this, a page of war leaders from the past. But I turned the page, and found this," Cynder said, turning the page as she did so.

Terrador gasped, filled with horror at what the words across the two pages read. "But who?" he asked after composing himself. "Who will succumb to the darkness?"

"I don't know, but I'm starting to get worried," Cynder said. "Progress on the research is slow, but when we do find something, it is mind-breaking."

"Show Pyron and Freeze. They should see this. I'll tell Volteer and Cyril when I get the chance. Thank you." Terrador said, and Cynder flew off.

 _What could it mean? 'Another will succumb to the darkness,'_ Cynder thought.

Cynder showed Pyron and Freeze, and they too had no idea who the message could be referring to, but they figured that whoever it would be, the outcome would not be good at all. Electrika was with them, and for some reason, she suspected Spyro.

"No! There is no way Spyro would become the next warlord! He's _not_ like that! He's not like _them_! He's not like _him_!" Cynder shouted at Electrika when she brought up Spyro's name.

"You never know. He's been slightly unstable recently. I've seen him. Remember what he did to the training arena?" Electrika asked.

"That was just an accident! I don't know how you could just say that Spyro will be the next warlord! Because he _won't_!" Cynder snapped. "Just because he and Malefor were both purple dragons, doesn't mean that Spyro will become just like him!"

"Fine, have it your way. But if it _is_ Spyro, don't come crying to me saying I was _right_ ," Electrika snarled, whirling around and stalking off.

"Ignore her, Cynder. She's always been highly suspicious of things like that," Pyron explained, a sad look on his face.

"I know, and I'm to blame. I killed her family, and now she's been wary of everything because that was the only way she could survive as a child," Cynder said, shrugging. "I'm still surprised she came up to me and said, 'Oh! Can we be friends now? I forgive you!'"

"Yeah, we were kind of shocked, too, but Electrika has her own reasoning for what she does. I think she truly _does_ see a change in you." Freeze said softly, her gaze soft and gentle.

Cynder nodded. "Thanks," she said. "Anyway, the sun's going down. I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright, goodbye," Pyron called as Cynder turned and walked home.

* * *

"Cynder, wake up," an unfamiliar voice said, cutting through Cynder's sleep.

She slowly opened her eyes to see an unfamiliar red dragon. His breath was hard and voice trembling as he tried to wake her. Cynder's eyes adjusted and saw that the red dragon had three large, bronze, crown-like horns on his head which turned backwards in a similar fashion to Spyro's. His chest scales, tailblade and back spines were also bronze, but the most peculiar thing about this fire dragon was that he had purple eyes. Most fire dragons had red or orange eyes. "Who the hell are you?" Cynder asked.

The dragon didn't answer her, but instead, gave a little yelp as a large explosion boomed above their heads. It was then that Cynder realised where she was. Warfang. _Not another siege,_ Cynder thought.

But it was a siege. And it was night, too. The bright moon Adrano was absent from the sky, the green, ghoulish light of Zella shining down on Warfang. Dark dragons with green stripes were everywhere, shooting green liquid in every direction. _Poison?_ Cynder thought. _Poison dragons?!_

The odd fire dragon's voice ripped through her thoughts. "Get up, Cynder!" he cried as a poison dragon lunged at him, knocking him to the ground.

Cynder attempted to pick herself up off the ground, but something was stopping her. Pain. She looked down at her body to see bleeding wounds all over her body. _What happened?!_ Cynder thought, beads of sweat beginning to form around her forehead.

Eventually, she managed to stand up, but was knocked to the ground as a poison dragon attacked her, pinning her to the ground, her chest and belly exposed to the razor-sharp claws that were already digging into her shoulders. She winced at the sight of the savage glare and hideous grin on the dragon's face, drool pooling around its lips and small droplets of venom dripping off its fangs in long strings which vibrated with the heavy breath the dragon exhaled. With all her might, Cynder used her hind legs and pushed upwards, sending the poison dragon flying off her. She got up quickly and let out a loud shriek as she sent pulsating red sound waves towards the poison dragon.

Or… tried to, anyway.

Nothing came out of her mouth except a normal scream. However, the scream was enough to faze the poison dragon, but not for long. She crouched, prepared to attack the poison dragon physically until a loud shout stopped her. A shadowy dragon, the exact same one to the one in her very first nightmare, had thrown the fire dragon she had seen earlier to the ground. The fire dragon begged pitifully to the shadow-cloaked dragon, but it ignored his cries.

And, while Cynder was distracted, she felt claws cut into her side, and everything went black. Red eyes appeared, followed by one word.

"Reunion."

* * *

Cynder shuddered as she awoke. She had already witnessed the horrors of that siege, for she had already seen it in her first nightmare, so she wasn't as horror-stricken as she was before. But the dragon. The very odd fire dragon that was telling her to get up. Who was he? _The voice said 'reunion'. Do I know that dragon?_ Cynder thought.

She went to go wake up Spyro but stopped as she felt Forzen stirring beside her. She looked down at the purple hatchling with worry. _Have I awoken him? I wasn't as scared by that nightmare, but I shuddered. He might have woken up,_ Cynder thought.

Forzen kicked out with a high-pitched grunt, and rolled over, falling silent as he breathed softly through his nose. There was a wide smile etched across his face, and Cynder sighed with relief that she hadn't woken him. She turned to Spyro, who was sprawled out on his back, jaws open and tongue lolling out of his mouth.

"Spyro, wake up," she said quietly, shaking Spyro, but he stayed asleep, so she tried again. "Hey, Spyro. Wake up."

Spyro let out a quiet mumble and twitched, but he didn't wake up. Cynder swatted him across the cheek, which caused his eyes to open abruptly as he brought in a large intake of breath, which released a sound somewhere between a snort and a hoarse wheeze. Spyro winced and brought a paw to his neck, which was pained from his snort. He looked up at Cynder, who was trying without prevail to hide her smirk. "What was that for?" Spyro asked.

"I had another dream. It was one of _those_ ones, but this one wasn't as frightening as the others, however. But I am just as confused about it as the others," Cynder explained.

"You should go tell the guardians," Spyro said, getting up.

"No, stay here. We have a son now, remember? I'll go by myself," Cynder snapped quietly, receiving a scowl from Spyro. "I'll be fine. I can take care of myself, okay?"

And with that, Cynder turned and left, leaving Spyro and Forzen alone. She walked towards the Warfang Temple in the dark of night, the full moons looming eerily over her. She shuddered. _How can such a beautiful place like Warfang fall so much? It looked even worse than in the Dark War when Spyro and I fought the Golem,_ Cynder thought.

She entered the Warfang Temple and walked down the hall to the guardians' rooms. She knocked on Terrador's door, calling out as she did so. "Terrador? Come out, please. I had another nightmare."

There was a pause, and then the door opened, revealing the tired earth guardian. "Cynder. Come in," Terrador greeted, and Cynder walked into the room. "What's wrong?"

"I had another nightmare," Cynder repeated.

"Oh. O-o-okay. I'll go fetch Volteer and Cyril," Terrador said, leaving quite quickly.

Terrador returned after a while, with two very tired guardians by his side. By the looks of it, Cyril just wanted to cut to the chase. "Go on. What happened?" Cyril asked.

"Well, first off, I saw the siege on Warfang again. The same one as the one I had in my first nightmare. Well, at least I think it was the same one. The dragon of shadows was there, too, but there were some things that were in my dream that confused me," Cynder explained, before going on to recall her dream. "I wasn't frightened when I woke up, as I'd already experienced those horrors in my first nightmare. But the odd fire dragon was something that really confused me. I don't know what it's all about."

"Intriguing. The odd thing that I get from it was the word 'reunion' at the end of your nightmare. You may know this dragon, though you may not know it," Terrador suggested.

"That's what I thought, too," Cynder said. "But the question is, who is that dragon?"

"And what could his begging cries mean, as well?" Cyril questioned.

"This is all very perplexing, but I suggest we must leave research and speculation until the morning. I'm dreadfully and incredibly exhausted," Volteer yawned.

"I agree. Can you come and see us in the morning, if possible?" Terrador asked.

"Yes, I think that's possible," Cynder replied.

"Okay, that's all settled. You can return home now," Terrador said.

"Alright. See you guys later," Cynder said, turning and leaving the Warfang Temple to go home.

As she went home, her thoughts lingered on the six nightmares she'd had. _What do they all mean?_ she thought. _I really need to get to the bottom of these nightmares, or I could be dreading it._

* * *

 **To 'IllusionMaster17', last chapter was only the beginning of the horror/gore content. It gets _much_ worse, trust me. This story's quite dark, therefore there'll be a lot of devastating scenes, most of which will be character deaths (there's a lot in _Demonised_ alone, not including the other four parts of _Purple Legacy_ ). Forzen's birth was also something I really enjoyed writing, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', the 'torture' nightmare's probably as intense as they get, but each nightmare will still be enough to send a shiver down Cynder's spine at least, something that not much can do given Cynder's past. The 'torture' nightmare also comes across as incredibly bad as it's one of three (I think) nightmares that I explain in complete detail as Cynder experiences it. It's also good to see conflicting opinions on Forzen; I can see why you're still sceptical. For his real purpose, you'll just have to wait and see… just like that grey dragon.**

 **Anyway, all that's done. See you soon, depending on how quickly I get this action sequence I'm working on written.**


	6. Chapter 5: Glimpses of the Future

**Didn't think I'd get the next chapter out this quickly, but I did a full 4200-word chapter in one sitting, so here's this chapter! Bit shorter than normal, but there are only a few in _Purple Legacy_ that are this short. I hope you enjoy, as always, and if possible, leave a review. I love seeing what people make out of these chapters.**

* * *

"Freeze! Rubblerust! I found a book that might help!" Cynder called.

The two dragons quickly ran to Cynder's side, and Freeze gasped when she saw the name of the book. " _Glimpses of the Future_! This could help a lot!" Freeze exclaimed.

" _If_ Cynder is experiencing glimpses of the future," Rubblerust said.

Cynder rounded on him. " _You_ wanted to join me and Freeze! If you're not willing to be helpful, then you can leave!" she snapped. "Plus, this book, as stated by the name, is _about_ dreaming about the future. This may determine whether or not my nightmares _are_ a warning!"

Rubblerust rolled his eyes as he walked away from the shelf and towards the reading area and sat down, with Cynder and Freeze following him with a shrug. Cynder sat in between Freeze and Rubblerust so they could both look as well, and she searched through the table of contents for something interesting.

After about fifteen minutes, they found something. "'The ability to dream of the future is something that not every dragon experiences. Most of the time, a dragon who gains this ability only gains it for a small amount of time before they lose it. But I, Earthshaker, have been the third dragon in history to have had this ability my whole life, and I have had many dreams about events way down the future. I believe the ancestors want me to warn future generations about some happenings, and there's one event in particular that I want to bring most of my attention to. I go into more detail into it on page 135,'" Cynder read, looking at Freeze and Rubblerust. "Do you think we should check out that page? For some reason, it seems to be kind of important to me. I don't know why."

"Why not? It wouldn't hurt to take a look," Freeze said, shrugging. "Earthshaker thinks it's important."

Cynder looked at Rubblerust, wanting his opinion before she went on. Rubblerust hesitated before drawing in a deep breath and speaking. "Cyril told me once in our history classes that Earthshaker was one of the greatest guardians of all time, with his future sight. I originally dismissed it as myth, just like your dreams, Cynder," he explained. "But now the dots seem to be connecting. This book, written by Earthshaker himself, pretty much _confirms_ the fact that he had future sight. I think we should see what Earthshaker's main concerns are about."

Cynder and Freeze both nodded in agreement, and Cynder turned slowly to the page that Earthshaker mentioned. The title read 'The War of Eternal Darkness'. Cynder immediately began to shake with concern as she read the title. She began to read the content of the chapter out loud.

"'Just a few nights ago I had one of the worst dreams I've ever had. A massacre, unlike any I've ever seen before. A dark purple figure was leading a bunch of smaller dragons, with dominantly black scales, complete with green stripes. There were several splotches of green liquid splattered all over the ground, and these strange dragons seemed to be absorbing the puddles of liquid to increase their attack power. They seemed to spit out the same green substance, that took dragons down almost instantly. There were also a few other dragons, black in colour as well, but with dark purple markings down their limbs and on their chests and foreheads. They were merciless fighters, fit with crooked, jagged fangs and long, curved claws.'"

She stopped reading. Cynder looked at Freeze and Rubblerust with a shocked look, only registering now that her heart was beating frantically against her chest. "That doesn't sound good," Cynder murmured. "Green liquid. It sounds like poison. Poison dragons maybe? I saw a few in my recent nightmare, and they were black with green stripes."

"Keep reading, Cynder," Freeze urged. "This could be extremely important. I for one want to know more of what this Earthshaker knows."

Cynder turned back to the book and continued reading. "'I saw a dark purple, almost black dragoness among the defenders of the city that was under attack. Her name was Cynder, if I remember hearing it correctly. She seemed to be mourning as she fought the onslaught of attackers until I saw what she must have been mourning over. Three viciously mauled bodies, drenched in blood from burns, cuts or bites. I don't know if she was close with them or not, or whether she was mourning because more dragons had fallen. I'd seen her past in an earlier dream I'd had. And when she spoke, it sounded like she knew something like this would happen. Then I felt it within the dragoness. She'd dreamt of this moment. She had future sight.'"

Cynder paused, not wanting to continue as tears brimmed in her eyes with fear; her name had been _directly_ used, _and_ Earthshaker knew of her past. But she pressed on, going onto the next paragraph. "'It was tonight when I dreamt of the dark coloured dragoness Cynder again. She was with probably the strangest fire dragon I'd seen. Bright red scales, with bronze horns and underbelly, and innocent violet eyes. I could sense familiarity between them. Cynder seemed oblivious to it, but they had met before. It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen. However, Cynder seemed reluctant to trust this dragon. I don't know why.'"

"You're doing great, Cynder. You're almost done, read on," Freeze encouraged Cynder, who was quaking so heavily it was now visible.

The dark purple dragoness drew a shuddering breath, and with a shaky voice, she read the last paragraph. "'Lastly, I want to write out to the future, as I have with my past visions. Whoever is reading this in the future, this will be a dark time. If everyone works together, I believe you can all make it through this. Work together and be there for one another, no matter if you like each other or not. Persevere, as this seems like one of the darkest times this world will ever go through. And if Cynder's reading this, I want you to trust your friends with your life. They are probably the best strength you will ever have in times like this. Friends and family are important in dark times like this. And I please ask you to pull through. No matter how bad this hell will be, you can make it through this. I believe in you.'"

Cynder stared at the page with tears in her eyes for a long, long time. She didn't even turn to look at Freeze or Rubblerust sitting beside her, but they both had a paw on her shoulders, comforting her. "It's true. It's all true," Cynder muttered under some time. "Those dreams _are_ warnings of what's to come. I… have… future sight…"

"Um… sorry to break the moment, but we _really_ need to tell the guardians this," Rubblerust said, his voice filled with concern.

Cynder closed the book and looked at Rubblerust. After a few moments, she answered, "Yeah. I agree."

Cynder went to pick up the book, but Freeze stopped her. "Before we do that, I wanted to say that you did great. You were really brave reading that," she said.

The dark purple dragoness smiled and nodded, before picking up the book and leaving to go see the guardians. Cynder didn't have to walk out of the library as Cyril's voice piped up from beside her. "Cynder. Are you alright?" he asked.

Cynder hadn't noticed, but the tear streams were still evident on her cheeks. Freeze and Rubblerust walked up behind her and pushed her on. "We found something concerning Cynder's dreams that was… _really_ big," Freeze explained.

Cyril's eyes widened. "What is it? Is it in the book?" he asked.

As if answering 'yes', Cynder placed the book in front of Cyril, who pushed the book he was reading aside, taking a careful look at the title and author of the book Cynder had handed him. "I've read this before. Probably about a hundred and fifty years ago, but I've read it." Cyril said with surprise.

Without speaking, Cynder opened to the page where Earthshaker addressed her and told Cyril to read the page to himself. She saw Cyril's surprise as he read through the page, eyes widening and expression filling with concern and shock. When he finished, he just stared at the page. "This… This explains a lot," he started, his voice croaky. "But now I know where I remembered your name from. Upon your first attack as Terror of the Skies, when you told us your identity, your name, I recognised it. I didn't know where, at the time, but I remembered it from this book. And as a matter of fact, so did the others, Ignitus included. They had all read this book. It was one of the books we had to study during our guardian training."

"It connects so many dots," Rubblerust piped up, and Cyril muttered and nodded with agreement.

"I… I need to take this to Terrador and Volteer. This is something they definitely need to look at," Cyril said. "Good find, you guys. And Cynder, go and rest. Upon reading that, my heart tells me that this War of Eternal Darkness is dawning. You need to be prepared. And I agree with Earthshaker's final comment there. I believe in you. And I'm sure your friends, as well as Spyro, do as well."

"Thanks, Cyril," Cynder said, smiling. "I guess I'll see you all later."

And with that, Cynder left the library. She spent the rest of the day playing with Forzen, while Spyro was doing some more training in the training arena, which was where Spyro seemed to spend most of his time nowadays, leaving Forzen being cared for by his friends' parents while Spyro was training and Cynder doing research or getting some sleep. She wondered if it was good for Forzen to be growing up like this, but she didn't see any change in his behaviour. He was a good-hearted little hatchling and was always happy. Within the two weeks Forzen had been alive, he had only ever cried a few times, but the number hadn't exceeded five, which was odd for a hatchling of his age; normally an outburst of tears happened at least once every day. But Cynder remembered what Spyro said about him upon naming him. He was strong. That probably allowed him to make it through the day with a smile.

 _I only hope that I could be like that,_ Cynder thought.

* * *

 **We've got something big getting close. This isn't going to be good, and trust me, when this War of Eternal Darkness begins, all hell will break loose.**

 **Anyway, review time! To 'StoryWriter2015', I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Yeah, your assumptions are pretty close. It's not that much of a secret on what's going to happen. I'm not going to tell you which one of your opinions is the closest, but you're close.**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', Electrika is an interesting character to say the least. I had a lot of fun writing her scenes in this story, and she becomes a main plot point at one point in the story, and it was great writing that part. As for the fire dragon, I've written most of his scenes in _Demonised_ now (he'll be a recurring character in the series) and I think I've written his scenes well. I really don't want to give anything else away so I'm going to shut up now. Glad you're enjoying this fanfic, and trust me, after writing 49 chapters of this thing, you're going to be in for a really enjoyable ride.**

 **See yuz all later don't know when the next chapter will be out bye.**


	7. Chapter 6: Betrayal

**Alright, here's the moment where everything goes to crap and the story really gets going. I'm really happy with the middle section of this chapter. Anyway, I don't have anything more to say, so on with the chapter.**

* * *

"Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness."

The chants seemed to echo from all around her. Cynder was trapped in a dark void. Alone. No one around her but the endless echoing of the chants. Her head spun in confusion as to what this meant. It didn't feel like any of the other nightmares she had.

"Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness."

The chants sped up slowly and eerily as silhouettes slowly appeared in the darkness. Bloody and battered, limbs twisted and eyes blank and clouded. Dragons of every kind; those of fire, lightning, ice and earth, and even extinct dragons of the ancient ages: leech dragons, ice monoliths, red giants, magic serpents, water and air dragons, and many more that Cynder had never seen before.

"Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness."

As the loud chanting increased in speed and volume, slowly and disconcertingly, another silhouette, one with bright red eyes, appeared in front of Cynder. Without warning, the dark shadow lunged at her, and all of the chanting stopped, and Cynder saw nothing but black and heard nothing but the ringing in her ears. But soon, even the ringing disappeared, and there was silence. She couldn't even hear her own heartbeat or breathing.

The red eyes appeared again, but this time, it wasn't just red eyes in the shadows. She saw pitch-black scales that glistened in the red light given off by the glowing eyes. She saw a large snout with grotesque gargantuan fangs that shot out from the creature's jaws. The creature brought in a heavy breath and spoke with a sinister, breathy, warped voice that struck fear into Cynder's heart. And it wasn't just one word that the creature spoke, it wasn't two, but it was a speech.

"Death. It is the only thing that will exist in this coming age. The lives of many dragons will be filled with torture, and trauma, and the burden of death. Rivers of blood will be spilled, and darkness will rule the land. However, I can assure you, this has _not_ been something that has just been thought up on the spot; my betrayal has been planned for _eleven years_ , so don't be surprised at how sudden this all is. Your enemies will be filled with bloodlust, looking for more to kill. And your story will unravel even more with a reunion or two. But be prepared for the War of Eternal Darkness. Or not. You've been _trying_ to prepare, but you've been humorously unable to. I've _loved_ seeing you scrabble around to decipher these wonderful dreams of the future, with no success. You're just… not smart enough to figure anything out. If you _were_ smart, you would have been able to figure out who I am, but even then, that wouldn't have stopped me from doing what I need to do. So, before I return you to the waking world, I have one thing to tell you. THE WAR OF ETERNAL DARKNESS BEGINS _NOOOOW_!"

* * *

Cynder woke up with a gasp, breathing heavily as if she had been strangled, her windpipe struggling to let air in. The creature's dark, ominous voice still echoed in her head, despite her being awake in her own home. The voice was hideous, but when the creature raised its voice into a horrific roar, it struck fear unlike any other into Cynder's heart, and she had almost wanted to throw up from hearing the voice. She composed herself and sighed when she could breathe properly. Then a small voice beside her made her jump, and worry flooded her.

"Mummy, I'm scared."

It was Forzen. He was awake, huddling next to Cynder, shivering with fear. Cynder knew that she needed to calm him down, but she needed to be calm in order to do so. She tried her best to calm herself as she wrapped her tail around Forzen. "It's okay, Forzen. Everything's alright. Why are you scared?" she asked softly, stroking her son, her motherly instincts kicking in.

"I don't know," Forzen murmured, resting his head on Cynder's tail and sniffling.

"You don't need to be scared. If you're scared about me, I just had a bad dream. A scary dream," Cynder replied, trying to soothe her son down. "But it was just a dream. You don't have to worry."

"Or _was_ it?" another voice piped up.

Cynder jumped with shock, wondering if the voice was in her head. It was the same one as the one in her dream. But it was real; Forzen had heard it too, and he started whimpering with fear, and Cynder's heart twisted upon hearing Forzen whimper, something the normally happy child didn't usually do, and the sound was foreign to her.

The voice spoke again. "Did I _not just tell you_ that the War of Eternal Darkness has begun? You are a fool if you dismissed that as just a dream. You _just_ figured out that you had future sight, and you dismiss something like _that_?!" the voice scolded, pausing as the voice laughed darkly, before continuing. "You're a _hilarious_ fool, Cynder, and even more idiotic than I thought. It doesn't take much for you to break, I've noticed that. And that means you're going to have _such a hard time_ in this coming age. But that's alright, isn't it? I will rise, filling the world with darkness, ready to accomplish what has been _attempted_ by my ancestors. _No one_ who resists me will last long! I have a job to do, and unlike my predecessors, I… _will_ … SUCCEED!"

"Who are you?! _Where_ are you?!" Cynder screamed, standing and stepping backwards, wrapping her tail protectively around Forzen and dragging him back with her as the little purple hatchling began to sob.

"Oh, dear Cynder, I'm right _here_!" the voice echoed, as the only body left in the room leapt up, turning his head threateningly in her direction, glowing red reptilian eyes staring into her soul from the body of the one she loved so much.

"What the f…?! Spyro?!" Cynder shrieked.

'Spyro' stood up, stalking eerily towards her, a dark aura protruding out of his body. "Before you try waking yourself up, please know that you can't. You are in the real world. _This_ is all real!" the dark dragon in front of her said, chuckling darkly. "Isn't this all wonderful, Cynder? We can rise in darkness _together_ , and rule the Dragon Realms!"

"I don't want that! I don't want _any_ of that!" Cynder cried, tears brimming in her eyes as the Spyro she knew and loved was ripped away from her. "I just want a normal life! I gave up the dark path _years_ ago! You _know_ that!"

Spyro lunged at her, sending her slamming into the wall as her tail unwrapped, sending Forzen onto the ground with a thud. Spyro didn't take notice as he focused on Cynder, placing his claws forcefully around Cynder's neck, choking her. "Why are you doing this?!" Cynder croaked. "What… happened?!"

"Despite having been controlled by darkness in your past, you really don't know how it works, do you?" Spyro asked, throwing Cynder to the side.

Cynder landed on the ground with a thud, taking in a large, hoarse breath as her windpipe slowly opened, still struggling to breathe. Suddenly, she heard a high-pitched squeal, and tears brimmed her ears and her heart lurched as she saw Spyro's tail disappear around the corner of the corridor, Forzen's tiny purple body gone from the room. _No. No! He's stolen Forzen!_ Cynder thought as she pulled herself up off the ground and followed Spyro. _How could this happen?!_

Cynder cursed and broke into a sprint as she left her house, and saw Spyro flying up into the sky, Forzen's screams of fear echoing into the night vas he dangled from Spyro's forepaws. The sound was horrible. It grated against her ears, and it sent the tears flowing. Sure, Forzen had cried before, but pure terror edged the wails, and Forzen had never cried harder than he was now. She let out a determined howl as she leapt into the sky and flew after Spyro, not even caring if she woke up all of Warfang. She just wanted Forzen back. Spyro looked behind him and let out a growl as he saw Cynder flying after him.

Spyro turned around and fired a blinding purple beam of lightning at Cynder, which hit her point-blank in the chest. Crippled by the sheer intensity of the attack, her wings folded in on themselves as she was paralysed, electricity coursing through her body. She tried to move, but she was unable to, and she fell like a rock. She faintly heard Forzen scream out from the distance. "MUMMY!"

With a loud slam, Cynder fell through the front wall of the Warfang Temple, letting out a pained shriek as many bones shattered from the impact. Blood pooled down her face as a wild cut from the stone bricks slashed across her forehead.

With loud thudding footsteps, Terrador ran down the corridor towards the sound that woke him up, to find Cynder lying unconscious, with eyes open and blood spilling from her forehead onto the floor below her. "Volteer! Cyril! Get over here now!" Terrador roared down the hallway.

The two guardians ran down the hallway and stopped with a gasp to find Cynder's unconscious form in front of Terrador. "Terrador, what the hell happened here?" Cyril asked.

"I… I don't know. We'll ask Cynder when she wakes up," Terrador said, checking Cynder's pulse to make sure she was only unconscious and still alive.

At that exact moment, Cynder regained consciousness and, with a hoarse intake of breath, began to breathe again. Terrador sat down and lowered his body to her level. "Cynder. Cynder, what happened?" he asked, breathing heavy with concern as he gripped her shoulders.

Cynder didn't reply. Her breaths were rapid and hoarse, tears streaming down her face. Her lips moved in wordless mutters, as she tried to figure out what just happened. Terrador tried to ask Cynder again, but before he could speak, Cynder spoke, her voice hoarse and quiet. "It's begun. It's… begun. He's… He's gone."

"What's begun? Who's gone?" Volteer asked.

"The War of Eternal Darkness? Is that it?!" Cyril questioned, fear rising in his voice as he remembered what Cynder had shown him earlier today.

Cynder nodded as tears began to spill down her face. "I had… I had a nightmare," she said, slowly composing herself, her breaths softening. "The dark creature spoke to me. I don't remember… what exactly he said, but in his speech, he used _every single one_ of the six words he muttered to me in my earlier dream."

"And?" Terrador pressed on.

"I woke up, and Forzen was freaking the _hell_ out. He said he was scared, and I wasn't sure why. I thought it was because I scared him with my sudden movement as I woke from my nightmare, but there was something else that was wrong. Then Spyro got up and turned towards me, his eyes red, same as the shadowy creature. His voice was a match, too," Cynder said, her voice and breathing shuddering again as she recalled the horrific event.

Cynder saw the faces of the guardians fill with horror once she confirmed that Spyro was the shadow dragon that had been tormenting her for the past few weeks, and Cynder's emotional walls shattered as she broke down into a fit of tears. But Cynder had more to say. "And then he left, taking Forzen with him. He _stole_ Forzen," she finished in amongst heavy sobs.

"Ancestors… why is this happening?" Cyril asked, his voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper. "What could have happened to make Spyro do this? _Why_ did Spyro do this?" Cyril's voice grew dangerously into a distressed roar. " _Why_ is he turning his back on _everything_ he fought _so damn hard for_?! HE WAS A HERO!"

"I don't know, Cyril," Terrador said, standing up, his expression grave and voice quiet, eyes wide with fear. His eyes were wet and on the verge of spilling small tears, but the strong-willed earth guardian held them back. "But one thing's for sure, Spyro's not who he was. That explains his odd mood swings. But he'll be back, and we need to be prepared."

* * *

 **The fact that it was Spyro was probably fairly obvious, but it's not as big of a plot twist as what is in the rest of _Demonised_. Now that this is out of the way and Spyro's now gone bad means that I can talk about the inspiration behind my story. While I was writing _Broken Perceptions_ , I got the idea as I was planning the Dark Spyro scenes of _Demonised_ , which was meant to take Dark Spyro to the extreme, so lots of darkness and violence and blood and all that good stuff, and to make Spyro the main villain. It's not something I've seen happen a lot. Dark Spyro is done a lot, but you never really see it manifest into what seems to be the next Dark Master (although there are a few out there who have done that but I have my own different spin on it), so that's why I decided to do this. Originally it was meant to only be two parts, but I eventually expanded it to five. As for why the series as a whole is called _Purple Legacy_ , given with what's happened to Spyro just now, it's all up to you, but it comes in a bit more at around the last half of Part 3 (so we've got a while to go until we get there). But yeah, now that I've got that out of the way, I hope you like it and stick around, and be sure to leave reviews. Speculate, leave your ideas, and if there's any mistakes, let me know. Leaving a review really helps me out, so please do so if you can.**

 **Okay, onto responding to reviews now. To 'IllusionMaster17', Electrika suspected right. Bit more in that scene than just foreshadowing Spyro's betrayal. We'll also see the reasons behind Spyro's corruption later on as well (not going to say how much later it is; good to keep it a mystery). I'm glad that you liked the linking between an ancient book and the current events in the timeline (there's a lot more of that, too). As for war, well it's started. Spyro _will_ be back.**

 **Well, the aftermath of this night is next, and Cynder's not going to take any of this well. See you around, and I'm almost finished writing _Demonised_ as well (for those that don't know, I started this in May 2017, so I'm about 40 chapters ahead – I'll begin Part 2 of _Purple Legacy_ long before I finish uploading _Demonised_ ).**

 **Bye.**


	8. Chapter 7: Broken

**Well, I'm back with another chapter. Not much to say, since most of it usually goes at the bottom with reviews. Probably not even going to do pre-chapter A/Ns anymore. So say goodbye to the bold at the top, this one's probably gonna be the last one!**

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Cynder was not ready for the next morning. She didn't even want to leave the Warfang Temple, where the guardians had allowed her to stay for the night so she could recover from the shock and so that she could call out if she needed the guardians. But Terrador said it'd be best to have some company from her friends, so Cynder immediately went to seek out her friends, specifically Pyron and Freeze. They understood her more than Rubblerust and Electrika did, and Cynder felt she needed some very close friends who understood her to be around at the moment.

She walked through the streets of Warfang to the training arena, where Pyron and Freeze said yesterday that they were going to train today, mainly because it had been ages since they had done so and the guardians had made them do some more training, as well as some other adolescent dragons. A few dragons asked her why she looked so upset and battered on the way to the training arena, but she refused to reply. If she did, it was a short, snappy retort of 'I don't want to talk about it' or a low growl.

Cynder got to the training arena to find Freeze and Electrika having a spar, with Pyron watching on, a few bruises on his shoulders and arms. Supposedly, he had already been sparring and gotten a heavy beating. Cynder sat down next to Pyron, and it took a moment for the red drake to realise that Cynder was sitting next to him. He looked at her with a smile, ready to say a cheery hello, but faltered as he saw Cynder's expression. Tears streaked down her muzzle, and she stared at her paws, lips pursed in a thin line as if suppressing an anguished scream. Her breath was heavy and shaky, and her chest heaved as she breathed.

The red dragon sighed before he moved closer to Cynder and wrapped a wing around her in an act of comfort. Cynder was quick to shake the wing off with an irritated grunt. Pyron moved his head downwards and tried to look into Cynder's eyes to read what was in there. Cynder closed her eyes and turned away with another grunt, followed by a sniffle. Pyron spoke, "Cynder, what's wrong? You know you can speak to us if you need help – that's what friends are for."

"I, uh… I don't want to talk about it right now. I'll tell you, I promise. But just… not now. I just wanted to come here and spend time with my friends," Cynder said, not once looking at Pyron, her quivering voice showing all the emotion she was struggling so hard to hide. "Well, the guardians told me to. I didn't want to leave the Warfang Temple."

Immediately, Pyron was worried. He stammered, and Freeze and Electrika heard him stammer, and stopped their spar and walked over to him, also only just noticing Cynder's presence. Pyron composed himself and began to speak again. "You didn't want to leave the Warfang Temple? What were you doing there?" Pyron asked, concern filling his voice. "Shouldn't you be at home? With Spyro and Forzen?"

At those words, Cynder broke down into a blubbering mess. Pyron, Freeze and Electrika shared worried looks, before standing up and helping Cynder to her paws. "Let's go outside. You can cry all you want there. I don't think it's fair if we disturb everyone else's training," Pyron suggested soothingly.

Cynder just nodded as she followed her three friends outside of the training arena. They sat a few metres outside the training arena into the large courtyard and tried to calm Cynder down, but with no prevail. It wasn't long before a small crowd started to gather at the peculiar sight, and Pyron seethed with anger at this. "CAN'T YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS?!" he roared, standing up and expanding his wings threateningly, causing the crowd to hastily disperse and return to normal life.

Pyron sat back down and quietly shushed Cynder, putting his paw on her shoulder. Cynder flinched, but didn't shake the paw off this time. She was too busy releasing her emotions in a massive torrent of tears and screams as she sobbed loudly. Pyron, Freeze and Electrika gave Cynder a bit of time to calm down, even though she really didn't, and over the minute or two they waited, the three dragons agreed that Pyron would do all the talking, especially given Freeze's past experiences with her foster brother. Pyron was good at helping others, calming them down, distracting them from their grief. He had made Freeze feel like she had a family after her parents' disappearance, and she had gotten over the terrible moments of despair thanks to Pyron.

"So Cynder, can you tell me what's happened? Does it have something to do with Spyro or Forzen?" he asked, knowing that when he mentioned their names earlier that that had caused Cynder's emotional breakdown.

Upon their names being mentioned again, Cynder broke into a loud howl, tears flooding down her cheeks as her emotional walls collapsed. She had tried so hard to make herself look strong over the years, but now she had broken like a twig, and the emotions that had welled up inside her flooded out, and it hurt. But, sooner than her friends expected, Cynder spoke, her words slurred by her heavy, suffocating sobs. "They're gone. They're both gone. It's begun. It's begun," she muttered, taking in heavy intakes of breath in between each sentence before letting the next out in amongst a loud, ugly sob.

"What's begun?" Pyron questioned, his voice soft and soothing.

"The War of Eternal Darkness!" Cynder cried before letting out another loud howl.

Pyron and Freeze exchanged scared looks. They, as well as Cynder, Rubblerust and the guardians, were the only ones who knew of this. Electrika had been left completely out of the blue. Electrika was known to be quick to speak, so they were worried she was going to speak up. Luckily, she kept her mouth shut, although the expression on her face as she looked to Pyron and Freeze asked the question that went unsaid. Pyron turned back to Cynder and asked, "How do you know?"

"A nightmare. I had a nightmare," Cynder sobbed. "The dark creature told me that it had begun. And he revealed his identity."

"Who?" Pyron asked.

At this, Cynder threw her head back and broke into her loudest howl yet, this time, unintentionally filled with blasts of her fear element. Pyron, Freeze and Electrika all ducked out of the way of the visible red sound waves that shot into the sky as to not fall into a frightened mess. Pyron gripped Cynder tightly when she stopped the loud howl and shook her firmly. "Who was it?" Pyron repeated, a little more firmly than the first time he asked.

"IT WAS SPYRO!" Cynder shrieked before collapsing.

Pyron caught her and helped her gain balance so she could sit upright. He shared a scared look with Freeze, their breathing getting more rapid, as did Electrika's. "Are you sure?" Pyron asked.

"Yes. He made this speech and attacked me… all dark and evil… not like Dark Spyro… and then he left… and stole Forzen!" Cynder cried, breaking into another fit of sobs.

Not even Cynder's friend group knew about Dark Spyro; it was only a thing that herself, Sparx, and Spyro knew about, and they had always intended to keep it that way. But now was not that case. Spyro had turned, and now everyone will know of his evil side.

Pyron opened his mouth to say something to Cynder, but Electrika beat him to it. And it was not a good thing that came out of Electrika's maw. "I told you it was him! But you didn't listen!" Electrika sneered.

"Shut up," Pyron said calmly, his breathing getting heavier as he tried to take deep breaths to calm the rage that was slowly and dangerously building up inside of him.

"I said don't come crying to us if Spyro did turn on you," Electrika continued, ignoring Pyron completely. "And what do you do? You come to us and bawl your eyes out like a newborn hatchling."

Cynder's breathing sped up rapidly, feeling helplessness grip her like a vice, and Pyron's gaze went from Cynder to Electrika in a savage glower. A growl rose in Pyron's throat. "Shut up, Electrika," he said, his face twisting in an angry snarl.

But Electrika ignored Pyron and kept going. He didn't know what was wrong with her! "You're weak. You told me you were strong. You told me you helped defeat Malefor," she snarled at Cynder. "But you're a weak, emotional brat who creates lies to make you look good. You were probably a burden to Spyro when he was saving the world. Nothing more than a slave."

This time, it was Freeze who spoke up. "Electrika, what the heck is wrong with you?!" she cried.

Electrika's voice was hollow now, tears forming in her eyes. "And you deserve it, Cynder! You had millions of slaves, and for what?! For most of them all to die?!" she screamed.

"Electrika, I suggest you be quiet right now or I will beat the hell out of you!" Pyron scowled, standing up, his voice quivering.

The yellow dragoness still wasn't done, however. "You say you're strong?! You were only ever strong when you had no emotions or feelings when you were the Terror of the Skies!" she howled, taking a deep breath before continuing hoarsely. "You say Spyro's gone evil?! THEN WHY DON'T YOU JOIN THE EVIL B…?!"

Electrika's curse was cut off by a loud roar as Pyron lunged at her, pinning her to the ground. Electrika let out a scream as Pyron's claws raked her flanks. Freeze leapt back with a yelp at Pyron's sudden anger, far beyond any anger she had ever seen in him. "You went too far!" Pyron roared savagely, continuing to claw Electrika.

Electrika suddenly kicked out at Pyron, knocking him over. She swiped at his muzzle, but Pyron dodged and flew up into the air, breathing a long stream of fire at Electrika, who let out a shout as the flames licked up at her, and she felt her scales begin to sizzle. From the pillars of smoke and fire around Electrika, she let out a beam of electricity, striking Pyron square in the chest. Pyron ceased his fire breath attack, and his body shook vigorously in the air as he fell, electricity coursing angrily through his body. Electrika stepped forward to pin him down, but Pyron managed to fight against the electricity coursing through his body. Quickly, he composed himself and leapt once again at Electrika. She dodged the attack this time, and they attacked with claws and aimed bites and tail swipes at each other, only catching a blow on the odd occasion as they fought, sending beads of blood splattering everywhere as they fought. Electrika weakened quickly, the long, bloody cuts running down her flanks slowing her down, her flanks heaving painfully with her every breath. Pyron and Electrika leapt at each other, forepaws raised. Their forepaws locked, and they stood there, suspended on their hind legs, clutching each other's forepaws, attempting to dig their claws into their opponent's wrists, pushing with all their might to make the other fall backwards. Electrika held on really well, given how much older and stronger Pyron was.

"STOP THIS INSOLENT BEHAVIOUR RIGHT NOW!" a loud roar bellowed as Terrador stormed up towards Pyron and Electrika, who quickly retreated and stood next to each other, looking up at Terrador.

"Electrika started it," Pyron growled, breath heavy from the heat of the battle, muscles aching to launch at Electrika, claws ready to sink into Electrika's flesh.

"I don't care who started it! What the hell were you two thinking?!" Terrador ordered.

"I couldn't take what Electrika was saying any longer. She was saying absolute cruel stuff to Cynder, and…" Pyron broke off, Cynder's presence completely forgotten during the fight.

He looked in Cynder's direction and gasped. She was slumped on the ground, with Freeze crouching next to her. Pyron ran towards the two dragonesses and his heart fell at what he saw. A bloody cut ran across where her neck joined to her shoulders, and bloody scratches on her forearms. Her own blood stained her tailblade and claws. Pyron looked at Freeze, fear and sadness filling his eyes. "She missed. In her emotional breakdown, she was so blinded by the tears and emotions that she attempted to… to… slit her own throat; she completely lost herself. Luckily, her body was shaking so much that when she drew her tailblade across her flesh, it was much further down than it should have been if she wanted to kill herself," Freeze explained. "She's still alive, but the shock and the pain made her fall unconscious."

"What have I done?" Pyron whispered, believing that the fight he started put Cynder under the stress to commit the actions she did. "I did this. I started a fight that made her do this."

Electrika didn't say anything. Pyron turned around to her to see a sly smile on her face. Pyron seethed with anger, holding himself back and curling his claws into the cobblestones underneath him to stop him from lunging at her and slicing the petty smile off her face. "How the hell are you smiling at this?! You were her friend!" Pyron shouted.

"No, you damn idiot. I was your friend. I hated her. I always had. She killed my parents." Electrika scowled, the smile removing itself immediately as she spoke. "She is the reason I became an orphan, that I witnessed horrors I never needed to, that everybody I wanted to be friends with laughed at me because I was the only one who didn't have a biological family! Because I was adopted! I was never her friend! I was playing along with it because I knew that you were friends with her! I didn't want to lose you guys!"

"You… you selfish, deceitful, horrendous, sorry excuse for a friend! You little…" Pyron scowled, tears welling up in his eyes. "How could you do something like this?!"

"Because she needs to know what true torment feels like. I've just given it to her," Electrika said, the smirk creeping up onto her face again.

"She already knows what torment is!" Terrador scowled. "She's been tormented for her whole life at painful memories of the past, and then with the nightmares about this War of Eternal Darkness to add on top of that! She's been through enough! Hell, she used to torment others! She already knows what the hell torment is!"

"You could have at least tried to see who she really was. She's a kind dragoness. She cares about everyone here! She cared for you!" Freeze added, her voice rising into a despairing scream. "Now look what she's done to herself!"

"I don't care. If you care that much for that monster, then say goodbye to me. I want nothing to do with anyone that has a friendship with that murderer," Electrika said, turning around and stalking off.

"Fine then! Leave without any friends! Be alone again for all I care!" Pyron screamed, collapsing under the emotional stress as all Electrika's truths were revealed, and he wept.

"Get Cynder back to the Warfang Temple," Terrador said to Pyron and Freeze. "She needs a little isolation right now."

Pyron stood up slowly, tears streaming down his face, and helped Freeze lift Cynder's unconscious body. As they walked towards the Warfang Temple, they heard Terrador dismissing the crowd that had appeared at the sight of Pyron and Electrika's fight, and Cynder's failed attempt at suicide. Terrador then turned and followed Pyron and Freeze, muttering under his breath. Pyron couldn't hear much of it, but there was one thing he heard that showed that Terrador was beating himself up inside.

"We shouldn't have forced her to leave the Temple."

* * *

 **I still quite like this sequence. Again, not my favourite, and I've made better, but it's still pretty good. I'm glad all of you are enjoying _Demonised_ so far, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too. Yeah, Electrika was also never on Cynder's side. So to have a friend ripped away from her like that, to find out that Electrika was faking it all, _on top of_ Spyro's betrayal and Forzen's kidnapping, yeah, you can kind of tell how depressed Cynder is right now.**

 **To 'lord typhlosion', I had the idea for this while writing the Dark Spyro section in _Broken Perceptions_ , so that's why the start of _Demonised_ seems somewhat similar with Dark Spyro taking control and making Spyro the main villain. But in all seriousness, _Demonised_ doesn't end there. It's going to get a whole lot worse; much worse than _Broken Perceptions_ , in which the M-rating speaks for itself there. Also, thanks for your support, on both my _Spyro_ fanfictions and my _FNAF_ one (I really need to get another chapter up on _Bitten_ gah).**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', yeah it was quite early. I originally wanted to make it a bit later when I first wrote this back in May/June 2017, but I realised it was beginning to drag on for too long, so I moved Spyro's betrayal earlier on. But yeah, Spyro is going to be much worse than in _Broken Perceptions_ as I said before (the M-rating speaks for itself, as well as some of the gory content you've seen in Cynder's future visions). As for your question about Spyro being the main antagonist for all five parts, I'm not going to say, because if he is or isn't it'll give away parts of the story, so the most I'm going to give you is 'wait and see'.**

 **To 'IllusionMaster17', this whole story is meant to be kind of shocking. Again, the story's rated M, so no surprises there at how shocking this story may get. But yeah, the fact that it was _Spyro_ who turned makes it worse for everyone. The hero and saviour of the world, taken and fallen into darkness. Almost makes him seem like a hypocrite here. But that's kind of the point. Still, glad you're sticking around, and thanks for the support.**

 **Until next time, folks! (woah I never say 'folks'… that's a first)**


	9. Chapter 8: Recovery

**Just finished writing the beginning of the climax of _Demonised_ (it's Chapter 52, so it starts long after it did in _Broken Perceptions_ if you want to compare; the chapters in _Demonised_ are also much longer as well). The climax of _Demonised_ is also probably the darkest thing I will ever write (apart from _Purple Legacy_ Part 3; that one's pretty dark). But I'm really happy to finally begin writing the climax; I'm almost done _Demonised_ and I'm ready to start Part 2 of _Purple Legacy_!**

 **But as always, another chapter finished means another chapter to post, so here's Chapter 8. I like this one, and I think you'll know why once you finish it. So enjoy!**

* * *

"Are you okay?" Pyron asked.

Cynder awoke in the Warfang Temple, groggy and disoriented. She looked around and saw Pyron's hazy figure in front of her. When her vision improved, she groaned and attempted to lift her head, but winced in pain as her neck and shoulders began to throb painfully. She put a paw to where the pain came from and felt a long, savage cut across the bottom of her neck. It had closed slightly, but was still open and she could feel raw flesh where the cut was. She then looked at her forearms and saw some less serious cuts there, but they still hurt, her nerves only now registering the pain. She looked at Pyron, confusion in her eyes. "What happened?" she asked, not remembering what had happened the day before.

"You attempted to take your life," Pyron deadpanned. "That was yesterday."

"What? Why?" Cynder questioned, her breath going hard with shock.

"You mean you don't remember?" Pyron asked.

"No. What happened?"

"Electrika… said some really mean things to you. Apparently, she's not your friend anymore. She never was, really. I can't believe that selfish idiot for doing what she did."

Cynder looked away and shed a tear. "Oh. Now I remember," Cynder said, the terrible memories filling her head. "I didn't look stupid bawling my eyes out like that, did I?"

"Don't say that. You were in shock," Pyron replied quickly.

Cynder opened her mouth in an attempt to reply, but was cut off by the sound of muffled screaming from outside the Warfang Temple. Cynder and Pyron watched as Terrador walked past them down the corridor, walking out of the Temple. Cynder attempted to stand up to follow Terrador, but Pyron stopped her. "You're exhausted. You need to stay here," Pyron said.

"No. I'm going to see what's going on," Cynder growled, standing up with wobbly forelegs.

Pyron groaned, knowing he was never going to get Cynder to lie back down, so he went with her as Cynder limped towards the doors. When they walked out, they gasped at what they saw. Even Terrador was frozen in shock.

A massive mountain, far away from Warfang but still visible from outside the walls, had wispy dark purple clouds billowing from around it. The purple clouds rose into the sky and bled into it like ink, choking the bright blue colour out of the sky, leaving it the same dark purple as the clouds, almost black at certain parts. Bright flashes of lightning appeared in the dark wispy clouds on the occasion.

Cynder didn't need any explanation for what that was, and where it came from. The dark clouds were dark energy; she had seen it before. She had _felt_ it before. Malefor had seen to that. But now, there was only one creature that she knew existed that could control dark energy. "Spyro. Spyro's doing that," Cynder said.

Terrador looked behind him and stared at Cynder in shock. Cynder's gaze flicked to Terrador, worry in her eyes. Cynder jumped as Cyril's voice sounded behind her. "How do you know?" Cyril asked.

"What other darkness is in the world right now? Malefor's dead, his armies annihilated. The War of Eternal Darkness begun two days ago when Spyro turned on us. He's probably creating some sort of base or army or something," she explained, losing her temper and turning around to look at Cyril. "I don't really know what he's doing, but I know it's Spyro."

Cyril stepped back, filled with shock. "Why is he doing this? I don't want to fight him," he muttered.

"I don't know. He's turned on us. He's become the next Dark Master. If we have to fight him, then we will. _I_ will, even if you _won't_!" Cynder shouted, feeling fresh tears trickle down her face. "I _will not_ stand to see darkness take over this world once more, even if I _die_ trying!"

"We have to prepare," Terrador said. "It can't be too long until he gets his armies up and running."

"Especially since signs of his dark powers are starting to show just _two days_ after he betrayed us," Pyron added.

Cynder let out a sniffle. Her gaze was set upon the dark energy seeping into the sky, tears in her eyes. Terrador sighed and walked towards her. "I know it's hard, with Spyro gone and all that…" he started, but was immediately cut off as Cynder rounded on him.

"Hard?! You think it's _hard_?! It's _more_ than hard, you inconsiderate worm! I _loved_ Spyro, and he goes and does _this_?! He turned his back on me, _betrayed_ me, _stole_ our _son_ , and has become the next _Malefor_!" Cynder screamed, spittle flying from her lips as she advanced dangerously toward Terrador. "Wait until this ever happens to _you_ , and see if you can say it's hard! Only _then_ will you understand what I'm going through!"

As she screamed her last sentence, Cynder raised a claw, causing Terrador to flinch and Cyril to stiffen, ready to stop a fight if one broke out. Cynder quickly recomposed herself, slowly letting her paw drop down to the ground as she averted her glance from Terrador. She could hear Terrador's hard breath. He drew in a shuddering breath and spoke again, his voice quivering. "I know. I'm sorry. I don't know what you're going through, but I _do_ know what it feels like to lose loved ones to war. Family," Terrador said.

Cynder looked up at Terrador, sadness and rage in her eyes. "Well I'm sorry. If you didn't already know, I wasn't myself." she scowled, turning to walk away, before adding, "I'm not sure if you were trying to apologise or make me feel sorry for you, but it didn't work."

She heard Terrador curse himself, and the quiet voice of Pyron. "I'll go with her," he said, and Pyron caught up to Cynder.

"Thanks, Pyron, but I just want to be alone right now," Cynder said sadly.

"I won't leave you alone," Pyron said firmly.

"I'm not going to do anything stupid! I was blinded by my grief and fear yesterday!" Cynder growled, turning on him, moving her neck in a way that stretched the wound she had made painfully, opening it slightly as small beads of blood began to seep out of it slowly. "I'm not that dumb that I'll do it with a conscious mind!"

And Cynder left, leaving Pyron alone in the crowd that watched Cynder and the guardians fight.

* * *

"I'm an idiot. I can't believe I said those things." Terrador growled, sitting down in his room.

Cyril stood outside the door with a compassionate look on his face. "You didn't mean them. I'm sure Cynder understands that." Cyril said, trying to comfort the earth guardian.

"I tried to compare my suffering to Cynder's. My suffering is _nothing_ compared to hers! NOTHING!" Terrador replied, slamming his paw on the ground with rage and causing a few books to fall from the bookshelves in his room. But he couldn't care less. "I just _reminded_ her of _more_ victims of her wrath as the Terror of the Skies. She _didn't_ _need_ to be reminded of that with Spyro just going evil! She probably didn't even _know_ she'd killed my family, but I _blindly_ told it to her while she was mourning her life that _would have been_!"

"Terrador, calm down," Volteer said, coming around the corner.

"No, I _won't_! She's lost _all_ _chance_ of having a family she ever had, and then I go and say, 'It's alright, my family's gone too, and it's all your fault!'" Terrador screamed, his deep voice echoing through the room.

"You're not the only one who's verbalised matters like that," Volteer replied.

"Don't play that game with me after what just happened," Terrador scowled.

"I'm not playing ' _that game_ ,' Terrador! I really mean it!" Volteer roared, silencing Terrador at his sudden outburst. "Because I've done it to _you_! And _Cyril_! And _Ignitus_ , too! I used to be a foolish, thoughtless and inconsiderate guardian, and no matter what, you all _still_ looked out for me and _cared_ for me, while I was _kicking_ myself up over the things I've instinctively said because of my _big fat mouth_!"

As he said that, Volteer immediately turned to Cyril, expecting some remark about agreeing on the fact that he had a big fat mouth. Instead, Cyril's gaze flickered from Volteer to the floor and back again, before fixing on his paws. His lips were pursed in a thin line, and he swallowed nervously. Cyril heard Volteer's hard breath and sighed before speaking.

"I'm the same," Cyril said, his voice croaky with remorse. "I always found Volteer could get annoying sometimes, and the only way I ever knew react to that was to pick on people who _did_ annoy me and start a fight. My father never liked me, so he would always put me down, so I guess I learned it from him. I never even tried to take _any_ consideration of other people's feelings. _Especially_ you, Volteer."

Cyril looked up at Volteer, and their eyes locked, Volteer's angry gaze hard and difficult to look into, but Cyril stayed strong and continued to stare into Volteer's angry yellow eyes. "I apologise for everything I've said, Volteer. I was stupid and also inconsiderate. I hope we can make up for everything we've said to each other and start again," Cyril continued.

Volteer and Cyril stared for a few more moments before Volteer's firm glare softened and he spoke in reply. "Thanks. I apologise, too. I may have also said some harmful things to you," he said, before sighing sadly and turning his gaze upwards, staring off into nowhere. "I remember how hard Ignitus would try to stop our endless squabbling. I wish we could have resolved our problems while he was still here."

Terrador stood up and walked towards his fellow guardians. "It seems out of all of us, Ignitus was the only responsible one," he said, his voice low and tears pricking his eyes at the memory of Spyro and Cynder breaking the news to them that Ignitus was dead. "But he's with the ancestors now, and I believe he's watching down on us with a smile on his face, watching us resolve our problems without any help. I just wish we realised our issues sooner and not on the verge of another war."

"I agree. I'm glad to be with you two, brothers," Cyril said, smiling.

Terrador and Volteer nodded, smiling. "Brothers," they repeated, and they bowed their heads to each other in respect, and touched foreheads, something they had not done since the day they became guardians.

* * *

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', yeah you were right on the mark. You wouldn't believe how much I was smirking when you basically predicted the outline of those next two chapters. As for your comment about me torturing Cynder, this story's quite a dark one, and lots of characters are going to lose things in this story, and even more so, in the entire _Purple Legacy_ series. Also, while Cynder may (or may not) get better in her mental state, her circumstances _definitely_ will not get better. This story's barely started, and the War of Eternal Darkness is pretty terrible. Like I said in the starting A/N, I've just started writing the climax, and it's pretty dark, so things are going to escalate into a whole level of madness and bloodshed later down the track.**

 **To a guest, this is Electrika we're talking about. Cynder took her family away from her and made her an orphan, and because of that, Electrika had no friends and a pretty terrible childhood. So to pass up the chance of giving back the hell Cynder gave her, just wasn't something Electrika could do. Sad, I know, and although I've made it seem like Electrika's the villain here, if you look at where she's coming from, you kind of feel bad for Electrika too. And what gives you the feeling that Electrika's not going to survive? I'm interested to know.**

 **Anyway, glad everybody's enjoying _Demonised_ so far. I'll be back soon (whenever that soon may be) with Chapter 9!**


	10. Chapter 9: Massacre

**Yeesh, writing very intense and dark chapters right now. Quite violent and gory too. Going back here is a nice little break from the intensity of the climax of _Demonised_. _Demonised_ will probably have the most intense climax in the _Purple Legacy_ series, but what I have planned for Part 3 and 5 is more intense in the middle sections, and Part 4 will also have an intense climax. I can't remember where most of the intensity in Part 2 lies, but it will still be fairly intense.**

 **Alright, I've rambled on enough about this useless information. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter (not one of my best ones, but hey, that's alright)!**

* * *

A week passed. Cynder's physical wounds had almost healed completely, and most of the pain had left her, but her mental wounds were still stinging furiously. She had gone to see a dragon who was a counsellor twice within the week just gone, and had just returned from a third session with him after having a nightmare about Spyro's corruption and betrayal. Her future sight had left her, just as Earthshaker said might happen to her in _Glimpses of the Future_ , and the only nightmares she had been having now were ones that were created from her fears of what was to come. They scared her just as much as her future sight, probably even more, knowing that nothing was set in stone anymore. Cynder still pondered about her dreams from when she had future sight. None of the events portrayed in them had happened yet, and the when and why behind the events in the future visions were what frightened Cynder the most.

Pyron, Freeze and Rubblerust had given Cynder as much space alone as she needed, especially since they were asked by the guardians and Cynder's counsellor that she may need some time alone and not to disturb her, but to be there for support if she needed it. Electrika had disappeared from their sight since she very rudely ended her 'friendship' with Cynder.

Cynder still had a few moments where she would wake up, expecting Spyro and Forzen to be with her, but she would always be alone and reminded of the horrible way Spyro betrayed her. Her world had changed so much within the past two months that it was so hard to get used to things. She had gained and lost future sight, her son hatched and then was taken away from her, Spyro had betrayed her and turned into the very thing she was afraid of the most, she had caused physical harm to herself, and she had lost a friend who she thought had been really close to her. There were moments where Cynder would break down emotionally and wish that everything was back as it used to be, before composing herself and reminding herself that she had friends that could help her out, like Spyro did (although she tried not to think of Spyro), and that she had made it through Malefor's torment, and could very well go through this torment as well.

And this one morning was all the same. Cynder woke up alone, had a small moment of grief as Forzen's innocent wails of protest and fear entered her head from when Spyro took him, before recomposing herself and walking out of her house, cursing the tears that stained her cheeks. Like every other day since Electrika's betrayal, Cynder had eaten most of her meals with Pyron and Freeze, and on the occasion, Rubblerust, who they didn't see as often as they usually did, as a family issue had recently risen in his family and Rubblerust struggled to get time away to spend with Cynder, Pyron and Freeze. But they had taken things slowly with Cynder, and had been great friends to Cynder. Pyron and Freeze were calm and were there for Cynder whenever she needed the comfort, especially as they had witnessed Electrika's betrayal first-hand, and Rubblerust had been trusting of everything, and although he didn't have experience with things like this, still decided to hang around Cynder and just be a friend to her.

Cynder spent her breakfast meal eating in silence. She wasn't up to talking to anyone yet. Her mood swings were sporadic and would change at the most random, and sometimes, some of the worst times possible. There were days where she would start the conversations, wanting someone to talk to, others where she was reluctant to speak, others where she wouldn't want to talk at all, or even others where her temper would build up so much that she would snap at her friends. They were understanding of her, given what she'd been going through, but Cynder felt really bad for her friends that had to put up with her actions.

They had decided to go and buy a meal this particular day, and they sat outside while they ate their meals. Cynder didn't speak, and Pyron and Rubblerust talked quietly among themselves for a while (Freeze was out with some of her other friends). After their breakfast, Cynder finally spoke to them. "Hey, guys, I'm really sorry for being like this. For not talking to you," she apologised.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Cynder," Rubblerust replied calmly. "We know what you've been going through and it's understandable. Just know that we're here for you, okay?"

Pyron mumbled in agreement as he swallowed his last mouthful of food. "That's what friends are for, Cynder. We want to see you get through this and to thrive in life," Pyron added. "We want to help you through this."

Cynder sniffed, smiling. "Thanks, guys," she said.

"It's alright. I may not have been there to witness anything, nor am I qualified to speak of these things, but I want to help you. I'd gladly step out of my comfort zone to help a friend in a hard time, and right now, that friend is you, and that time is now. I just want to make you happy," Rubblerust said.

Cynder opened her mouth to reply, until she was interrupted by a few panicked screams that rose among the dragons of Warfang. Cynder immediately leapt to her paws at the sound, on alert. She walked up to a dragon who seemed to be fleeing from something. "What? What's wrong?!" Cynder inquired.

"The gates!" he cried. "They're at the gates!"

"Is it an attack?" Rubblerust asked, walking up to Cynder.

"I don't know, but we'd better find out," she replied, running towards the front gates.

What she saw surprised her. At the front gates of Warfang were a few guards who were fighting a large hoard of grublins, many of them dead or wounded, barely any of them holding weapons. She had thought that the grublins had died when Malefor had, as no one ever saw anything of them again after the war. But yet here they were. The grublins were as ugly as she remembered them from eight years before, but she was much bigger than them now, and could easily take down a lot more grublins than she could have when she was the age of fifteen.

A harsh, gravelly voice rang across the fight scene. "Seeen… dah!" the voice cried, despair and a pleading tone in the voice.

Cynder looked down to see a grublin running towards her, hands closed in tight fists. Cynder let out a scream and swung her tailblade around, striking the grublin hard in the chest, sending it flying back into a building. The grublin's back cracked and blood flowed from the wound Cynder had cut in its chest, but once again it cried out to Cynder, attempting to speak the common tongue, something a grublin normally wasn't able to do. "Weee… just want… toooo… talk, Cynder," the grublin groaned painfully. "News on… Dark… O… vah… lord."

"Dark Overlord?" Pyron asked, walking up to Spyro. "It can't mean Spyro, can it?"

Cynder's breath went heavy with fear as Pyron spoke Spyro's name. She pressed the emotions down as she listened to what the grublin was saying now, straining to make the words from the strong slur and accent, the common tongue foreign to the grublin. "Heeee… drove usssss… out," the grublin continued. "Heeeee… reeee… placed… usssss… with a new… ar… meeee. Heee… sent ussss here… to die. So, f-f-fin… finish… the job. Please."

Cynder, Pyron and Rubblerust exchanged concerned looks. "Spyro's made a new army. Just like I suspected," Cynder said.

"And then he sent the grublins here to die," Rubblerust added. "Why?"

"But how is it speaking? And where have the grublins been all this time?" Pyron asked.

"That's not important now, but I take it the grublins made refuge where Spyro resides now," Cynder replied.

An agonised squeal came from the grublin as it beat its fists on the ground. "Finish… meeee!" the grublin screeched. "Finish… ussss!"

Cynder walked up to the grublin and saw for the first time pain and suffering in the eyes of any grublin. The grublin screamed at her again. "Do it! Kill… meeee!" it shrieked.

With one swift move, Cynder plunged her tailblade into the grublin's neck. The grublin released one final, agonised shriek before lying still. She removed her tailblade and looked around. The Warfang entry gates were flooded with bodies of dead grublins that had given themselves up. "Why did they come here? Couldn't they have found another home?" Freeze asked, wondering if the grublin massacre could have been avoided.

"They were created to obey the orders of the purple dragon, of the Dark Master. Spyro now fits… fits in… he fits in both of those categories. Plus, they were Malefor's dark army. With Spyro making a new one, the grublins don't have any purpose at all anymore. So, they didn't just obey Spyro in coming here and letting themselves die. They came out of their own will because they had no purpose," Cynder explained, letting tears slip from her eyes at the revelation on what Spyro was doing, and at the realisation that it would only get worse.

"We should probably tell the guardians about this," Pyron said.

"No need," Cyril's voice came from behind them. "Word reached us that there was a grublin attack so we came here as fast as we could. We didn't realise that they were here to _let_ us kill them."

"Agreed. This is disturbing and troubling, knowing that Spyro has rejected the grublins and banished them," Volteer said.

"That's all true, but my main concern is what his next army will be," Terrador replied. "We don't know what they'll be composed of. I remember how quickly the grublins came when they replaced the apes. They were a huge surprise to us, and we were unprepared upon their first attack."

"No. We _do_ know what the next army will be." Cynder said darkly, a fearful gaze filling her eyes. " _I_ know what the next army will be. The first vision will come true shortly, I know it. Spyro's army will consist of dark dragons."

* * *

 **Grublins are back, and now they're gone. It was tricky trying to make this scene flow well from what I remember what making the original draft, but I think it turned out alright. I think the starting section was the better part of the chapter. Also, a bit of trivia, I changed a few things around from the original draft; Freeze was with Pyron and Cynder instead of Rubblerust. I noticed Rubblerust had just over a quarter of Pyron's screen time, and about sixty percent of Freeze's, so I needed to give him a little more screen time. I kind of forgot about Rubblerust in some sections while writing, so I'll need to add him into some areas where possible. So because I replaced Freeze with Rubblerust in this chapter, I had to change around some of the lines, but I think it turned out fairly well.**

 **To a guest, it's not a surprise that you think it's an 'everyone can die' fanfic, especially given the dark nature of _Demonised_ (although you haven't seen the _true_ nature of _Demonised_ yet), although most of the grimness doesn't just come from death of main characters.**

 **Anyway, that's it for now. Please review if you can, and I'll see you in the next chapter. Bye!**


	11. Chapter 10: Attack on Warfang

**The first big action sequence of _Demonised_ is here. And with violence comes blood, and the reason why this story is M is that there's a lot of it. This chapter doesn't even contain the worst of it, and it's pretty bad in this one.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Cynder spent most of the afternoon alone, sitting on top of her house and looking out into the distance. She had gone up after lunch, and was about to come down for dinner, but something caught her eye. The dark energy being released from Spyro's base had gotten more wild and stronger as black fronds of the energy escaped from the mass of the energy, shooting off into the sky and into the ground in areas surrounding the mountain.

Cynder squinted to get a better look at the mountain in the distance. There was suddenly a blinding flash from the mountain, forcing Cynder to block her eyes. She recovered, returning her eyes to the mountain when the light disappeared. A bright purple missile of dark energy shot from the mountain, flying up into the air and arcing over Warfang. It then descended with increasing speed.

With a shout, Cynder leapt from the top of her house and flew quickly over to the Warfang Temple. Her breath hardened. There was a warbling sound as purple mist exploded from behind her. The sky darkened. She sped up, and immediately upon entering the Warfang Temple, started yelling. "Terrador! Volteer! Cyril! Something just shot out of Dark Peak and landed into Warfang!" she hollered.

"WHAT?!" came Terrador's yell.

"JUST COME! _NOW!_ " Cynder roared, turning and running back outside.

She let out a shriek as she felt weight on top of her, claws digging into her flesh, shifting her balance dramatically as she fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Cynder kicked out with her hind legs, throwing the creature off her. She stood up and snarled, beginning to tremble as she looked at her attacker with fear. It was a hideous looking dragon with inky black scales and dark purple marks similar to Cynder's running down its forelegs. Its horns, underbelly and wing membranes were also a dark purple colour. Its claws were long and jagged, and teeth razor sharp and unequal in size. Its mouth was also oddly coloured; the flesh inside it was a glossy black, rather than a normal pink colour. It had scars in the shape of an X on both of its shoulders, and its wings were large and tattered, with large blades on the joints, similar to Cynder's wings. The most troubling thing about the dragon was its eyes. The irises were bright purple and seemed to be almost glowing, but the sclerae were pitch black. The eyes almost seemed to be these purple rings of light that would induce fear into anyone that looked into them. And that's exactly what happened. Cynder felt fear cripple her, and her dying snarl finally faded from her throat, before it was replaced by a whimper, and she shrunk back in on herself. She knew for a fact that this was _not_ a fear dragon, as she knew that the colour associated with fear was a dark red, and this dragon had nothing resembling that colour on it. She didn't know why she was feeling so much fear, but she knew that if she was to see a fear dragon, it would have a much worse affect, if a dragon that _wasn't_ a fear dragon was already making her tremble and whimper.

The dark dragon let out a fear inducing howl and leapt at Cynder again. She braced for the impact, ready to lash out at the dragon just before it hit her, but Terrador shot out from out of nowhere, thrusting his horns into the dragon's flanks and rolling it over onto the floor. Black-coloured blood streamed from the wounds left from Terrador's horns piercing through the dragon's chest, but the dragon stood up and seemed to shake the pain off, as if nothing had happened. Terrador turned to Cynder. "Go! Go now! See if you can find anyone who needs help!" he shouted. "I'll be fine!"

Cynder looked at Terrador for a moment as Terrador was tackled from behind by another dark dragon. Volteer leapt out from the Warfang Temple and grabbed the dark dragon by the wings, tearing it off Terrador and, with a horrible snap, dislocated the dragon's wings. "GO!" Terrador roared again, and Cynder turned and bolted into the city.

Screams came from every which direction. Countless dragons were fighting with the odd new dragons. Cynder heard a loud shriek and ran towards the sound. A little fire hatchling, male, cowering against a wall as three dark dragons closed in on him, black blood dripping from their bodies. Behind them, two dragons, male and female, lay dead, their necks sliced open with a horrible display of blood and bone. Cynder let out a loud roar as she leapt at the murderous dark dragons and released a large glob of poison. The dark dragon merely raised a wing and deflected the poison, sending it shooting in another direction. Cynder's heart fell as she watched the glob of poison fly in an arc over her head, landing with a splatter on the hind leg of an earth dragoness a few metres away.

Cynder didn't know what to do. Save the child, who could be killed by these two dark dragons, or help the dragoness, who would be weakening super quickly by the second? Her thoughts were interrupted as the hatchling let out a scream. She turned to see one of the dark dragons step closer towards the little red drake, and raise a claw, ready for the kill.

What could prevent her from doing both?

Cynder immediately turned and grabbed the hatchling, sprinting off to a nearby market, which was filled with dark dragons and defending Warfangian dragons. She ran behind a stall and placed the hatchling behind it. "Stay there. You'll be safe." she told the hatchling. "Don't make a sound."

After receiving a little nod from the frightened hatchling, who was still bawling, Cynder turned and ran back to the earth dragoness she had accidentally hit with her poison attack. The dragoness was lying on the ground, writhing in pain as her leg visibly began to deteriorate. The dark dragons were advancing on her, and, with a growl, Cynder launched herself at the dragons. She wrestled with them for a few seconds before throwing the dragons off her and releasing a large gale of wind at them, knocking them off their paws and thrusting them backwards. Cynder saw other dragons leap at them, and Cynder knew she could now tend to the earth dragoness. "What did you do to me?" the dragoness asked Cynder hoarsely, an almost accusing tone in her voice.

The earth dragoness attempted to start another sentence, but she was cut off as a pained scream tore from her jaws as her wound began to spread further into her leg. It wouldn't be long before the poison would be in her main bloodstream. Pus and blood spilled from the wound as the scales around it began to lose their colour and the flesh began to peel away from around the wound. There was a hideous sizzling sound, as well as a wet bubbling from inside the wound. "It was an accident. The dark dragons seem to have an immunity to poison, and just reflected it off its wing." Cynder explained. "Hold still. This may hurt, but I'm going to have to grip your leg so I can call back the poison."

"You can do that?" the dragoness asked.

Cynder nodded, and then placed both of her paws on the dragoness' infected leg, and felt pus and rotting flesh under her paws and winced, feeling the rot underneath her paws and feeling the disgusting body fluids spilling over her paws. The dragoness let out a pained groan, biting her tongue as she tried to keep her scream in so she wouldn't draw attention to any other dark dragons. But Cynder knew the wound was too small to access the main bloodstream, so Cynder, without warning, began to dig her claws into the leg wound and pried it open, tearing a scream from the earth dragoness' jaws. None of the dark dragons were alerted, thankfully. Cynder felt sick as she felt the throbbing blood vessels around her, realising how irregular the pulsing was. Cynder then used her poison powers to call the poison back out of the dragoness' body and into hers. It took a few moments, but it was done quicker than the dragoness expected. Cynder pulled her bloody paws free, and stepped backwards. The wound on the earth dragoness' leg was horrendous. The earth dragoness was strong, however, as she stood up on three paws, thanked Cynder, and limped into a nearby building to rest her leg and to hopefully find a small stash of red gems to heal the leg, which still hurt a heap with the exposed flesh and pus oozing out of the wound.

A voice rang out across the battle. "Cynder! Come here!" Pyron shouted.

Cynder turned around and ran to Pyron, gasping at the amount of blood running down his face. "Pyron! What happened?!" Cynder asked.

"Come with me! They can't hold them for much longer!" Pyron said, turning and bolting down the street without any extra information.

Cynder sprinted after him. As he disappeared from her sight as she rounded a corner, a dark dragon leapt at her, digging its horns into the sides of her neck, drawing blood. Cynder lashed out and knocked the dragon off her, and gasped as she saw what happened next. As she lashed out at it, the dark dragon disappeared into the ground, and then leapt out from another direction at her. _This dragon can use shadow! It's a shadow dragon!_ she thought.

Suddenly, Cynder was engulfed by shadow fire. She screamed in pain as the black fire burned her scales, but she quickly recovered and released shadow fire of her own. The two streams of shadow fire combatted each other for a few moments before erupting into an explosion of dark energy. Cynder coughed and looked around, blinded by the smoke, until the shadow dragon lunged at her again. But this time, Cynder was ready. She swung her tailblade around, slicing it deep into the shadow dragon's neck with a massive squirt of its black gore. But it wasn't enough. While it would have killed a normal dragon, the slitted throat only hindered the shadow dragon, although it was by quite a lot. The shadow dragon stumbled about, dizzy and uncoordinated. Its black blood pooled out of the deep wound across its neck, dripping with a plip-plop onto the ground. Cynder knew the only way to end the dragon would be to do the same to the other side. Her attack had gone really deep the first time, digging in through half of the shadow dragon's neck. So, she leapt at the shadow dragon, pinning it to the ground, exposing the back of its neck. Cynder raised her tailblade and cut through the remaining untouched half of the shadow dragon's neck. The shadow dragon's head fell clean off its body, and when Cynder stepped off the body, it didn't move. Black blood flooded out of the body's empty shoulders.

Cynder jumped as Pyron's scream sounded from around the corner. _Dammit! I completely forgot about Pyron!_ she thought.

Cynder ran around the corner to see Pyron in front of Freeze, who was quite badly wounded, guarding her. Two bodies lay beside them, a lightning dragon and a fire dragoness. Cynder gasped with shock as she recognised them as Pyron's parents. Tears streamed from Pyron's eyes. Cynder looked at the shadow dragons that closed in on Pyron and Freeze, and let a roar escape from her throat. She ran at the shadow dragons and mercilessly attacked them, swiping at them and swinging her tailblade around with such coordination that Pyron and Freeze couldn't believe what they were watching. They had never seen Cynder in a real battle before. Her coordination and speed was incredible to watch, and soon, Cynder was standing in a pool of black blood, surrounded by bodies with heads missing, or a hole in them going from the chest to the back. "Are you alright?" Cynder asked, her rage suddenly gone.

"We're fine." Freeze said.

"My parents are dead." Pyron said, not wanting to believe it. "I couldn't save them. Why didn't you come with me?! They could have been saved!"

"I was attacked. I couldn't get to you in time!" Cynder said, only to be tackled by another shadow dragon.

She rolled on the ground, trying to throw the shadow dragon off her, but her attempts were useless as the shadow dragon bit down on Cynder's left foreleg, and she felt the agonising pain of the long, crooked, jagged fangs that seemed to have been crammed into the shadow dragon's mouth. Pyron leapt at the shadow dragon, knocking it off Cynder. He aimed a few swipes at the shadow dragon, but the shadow dragon slashed fiercely at his right shoulder, and drew blood. The shadow dragon released a heavy stream of shadow fire, scorching the bloody wound on Pyron's shoulder. Pyron roared in pain, and collapsed to the ground. The shadow dragon turned to Cynder once again, who had just stood up, her own red blood dripping down her foreleg and mixing with the black blood she was standing in. As the shadow dragon leapt at Cynder, Freeze leapt at the shadow dragon. Freeze and the shadow dragon collided, and they landed in the pool of blood with a splash. They fought viciously in the puddle of blood, jaws snapping and claws and blood going in every which direction. Freeze then released a stream of ice at the shadow dragon, encasing its head in ice. Freeze threw the shadow dragon off her, and Cynder swung her tailblade around, cutting through the ice cleanly, sending black blood spraying everywhere as the shadow dragon's head toppled off its neck.

"Freeze, are you okay?" Pyron asked, standing up, eyes wide at the sight of his foster sister's bright cyan scales covered very obviously in black blood, which looked very much like ink.

"I'm fine." Freeze panted.

A loud, unearthly roar echoed throughout Warfang, and Cynder felt a chill go through her. "That's Spyro. I can feel a dark presence unlike any other coming from behind that roar." Cynder said with fear, running off towards the sound, with Pyron and Freeze following her.

* * *

 **Well, that was fun. We're going to see what's become of Spyro next chapter, so prepare yourself for that. There'll be a lot more action sequences in this one as compared to _Broken Perceptions_ as well; there's no more than ten chapters between each of them, and by the time the story hits Chapter 41 or something like that, there's at least a minor action sequence in almost every chapter. And now since I'm writing the climax, there's going to be a big round of violence for (I'm going to try to aim for) about five chapters or so.**

 **Onto reviews. To 'Derick Lindsey', Rubblerust was always going to be a somewhat minor character, but he turned out to be even more of a minor than I originally intended. Like I said, I'll try to add him into other areas where I can, but I doubt there'll be many extra scenes I can add him in where he isn't already in them. And yes, Electrika will appear again. Not going to say what happens. Also, Hunter is in fact in _Demonised_ ; his introduction is in Chapter 37. I couldn't leave many of the canon _Legend of Spyro_ characters out of _Purple Legacy_ , so not only will Sparx be in it as well, but so will Nina and Flash. Some of them won't appear, such as Exhumor and Mole-Yair; I haven't got any plans for the characters to go to Munitions Forge, and I don't think I ever will, but most of them will be in _Purple Legacy_.**

 **To 'IllusionMaster17', and things got much worse again. And things will get even worse later on as well. This is barely the start. Cynder getting angry at Terrador was something I'd wanted to do for a while. I'd done that in _Broken Perceptions_ before, but that was because Terrador was being stubborn and refusing to see Cynder's side of things (not gonna spoil it for you if you haven't read it yet), so I wanted to do it a bit differently, and in a way that I was actually happy with. And Terrador's not normally the one to have a slip of the mouth, so I thought it would be a good way to get Cynder mad by him trying to be comforting but spilling out information that didn't help Cynder in the slightest. And as for what is causing Spyro to do what he's doing, you're going to have to find out later on. It takes a while until the reason is discovered, but it will come. But thanks for reading.**

 **Well, I'm off again. Don't know how long I'll be gone for, especially now that school's started up again. Yay. Anyway, I'll try to get another chapter up soon, and I'll try not to take so long on _Bitten_ for those that are reading that one too. Bye!**


	12. Chapter 11: The Dark Overlord

As they ran, they came across a few shadow dragons and had to continue fighting to get where they wanted to be. It wasn't long before they had black blood staining their tailblades, claws and scales, and the dark blood from the shadow dragons mixed with their own blood that streamed from their own wounds. The black blood was hardly visible against Cynder's dark scales, but against Freeze's pale blue scales, the black liquid was extremely visible, and stained like ink spilled on parchment. Dead Warfangian dragons surrounded them, and the corpses of a few moles, cheetahs, panthers and leopards were also scattered among the reptilian bodies. The shadow dragons were easily winning, their immunity to not only physical attacks, but to elemental ones, made them a real struggle to beat. It took a lot more to down a shadow dragon to be able to make the kill, and even _that_ was a struggle.

It wasn't long before Cynder, Pyron and Freeze made it to their destination. They saw Cyril, stepping backwards cautiously, trembling with fear as a dragon cloaked in dark shadows and glowing red eyes closed in on him. "Spyro, stop this now!" Cynder pleaded. "What are you doing?"

The shadowy creature that Cynder named as Spyro stopped and turned to look at her. Spyro opened his mouth, parting the shadows that was cloaked around his snout and laughed. "I'm fulfilling my destiny, Cynder. To bring the world as we know it to an end, and start over from scratch." Spyro replied, his crimson eyes staring into Cynder's soul. " _You_ of all dragons would know that from being the puppet of my predecessor. Malefor was right; this world needs to be cleansed."

"What has happened to you? Where's the Spyro I used to know?" Cynder pleaded, tears brimming her eyes.

"That Spyro doesn't _exist_ anymore! He was soft! He was _weak_!" Spyro roared, the unearthly, deep tones in his voice growing violently as he raised his voice. "The transformation has just begun. My body is changing, and to protect it, I have encased it in shadows. You can't hurt me. Once I break free from these shadows, the transformation will be complete, and I will have the body that belongs to one of my title, the Dark Overlord."

Cynder stared at Spyro with shock, tears forming in her eyes as her breath went hard. Spyro's voice went soft and smooth as he walked towards Cynder, an eerie smile forming across his lips, which was only just visible through the shadows surrounding his body, and was only really noticeable when he spoke. "The Spyro you knew is now gone, Cynder. But I think you'll like my current form much better now. After all, I remember hearing stories from that old coot Ignitus about how much you _loved_ bringing fear onto the world! How much you _loved_ massacres!" Spyro said, his voice rising as he broke into deep laughter. "Come and join me, Cynder! We can rule the world together! We can be one again!"

"I will never join you, you sick freak! And how _dare_ you talk about Ignitus like that?!" Cynder roared.

Spyro ignored Cynder. "Our son is waiting." he rumbled with a soothing voice, hoping it would strike a chord in Cynder to get her to join his side.

"Don't listen to him, Cynder!" Cyril shouted, turning to look at Cynder, causing Cynder, Pyron and Freeze to gasp in shock.

Half of Cyril's face was caked in thick blood. His left eyelids were closed as blood pooled over them from massive, deep wounds around his left eye, and his horn had begun to split and disconnect from his head, which also spilled blood as the horn was splitting from the roots in his skull. A large bleeding cut also ran from the left corner of his mouth to his jawline, and it was pretty deep. Spyro laughed as he watched horror fill Cynder's expression at Cyril's bloodied, swollen face. "I'm alright, Cynder!" Cyril tried to convince her.

"You're a monster!" Cynder scowled, glaring savagely at Spyro. "How could you do this?!"

"You're right, Cynder. How could I do this without _you_ , the former Terror of the Skies? It would seem almost _rude_ to my predecessor, and our past relationship." Spyro chuckled. "Join me, Cynder! We can rule the world together! We can do _this_ together! You used to _love_ this!" He gestured to his bloodied claws and tailblade as he said the last two sentences.

"Not anymore! I _hate_ the thought of violence! Of _murder_!" Cynder cried. "I would _never_ cause another massacre _again_!"

"Pity." Spyro chuckled, his harsh red eyes slicing through Cynder's soul. "It seems that the entire grublin race is now extinct because of you and your pathetic Warfangian friends and citizens. _You_ caused the massacre of grublins!"

" _You_ sent them to their death!" Cynder shouted, tears brimming in her eyes.

"That's too bad. _You_ were the ones to attack. It was _your_ choice." Spyro retorted, breaking into hideous laughter.

Immediately, Spyro's expression went hard and expressionless as he lunged at Cynder, pinning her against the wall of a building behind her. Cyril, Pyron and Freeze all let out startled shouts at the speed of which Spyro launched himself. Spyro's shadow cloaked tailblade was brought up to Cynder's neck, and Cynder could feel the blade resting against her neck despite the shadows it was hiding behind. Spyro's tailblade was also much sharper than it had been; it was drawing quite a lot of blood already and it was barely touching her flesh. It would be able to do serious damage. Cynder's breathing began to speed up and sweat began to drip down her forehead, the terrible stench of Spyro's hot breath filling her nostrils, reminding her of the stench of death that she would smell day in and day out from her time as the Terror of the Skies. "I'll give you three chances, Cynder. You can either join me or not. If you decide to reject my offer all three times, then you are truly my enemy. I will not hesitate to kill you." Spyro said darkly, a sadistic smile creeping onto his face. "So, think carefully, my dear. Now, tell me, are you going to join me or not?"

"Never in my life!" Cynder croaked through clenched teeth. "Why the hell would you even give me chances to join you? Because I'm not _ever_ going to join you! I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU EVER AGAIN!"

Spyro brought his tailblade back from Cynder's neck and began to step back, before lunging forward again and bringing the tailblade down across Cynder's right foreleg, leaving a clean, yet savage cut, which began to flood with blood almost immediately. "Chance one gone. Two chances left, Cynder. I genuinely want you by my side; we could rule together. But that'll have to wait until another time." Spyro said, turning and walking off.

Cynder fell to the ground, her foreleg aching with insane amounts of pain. She let out a scream as the pain began to worsen. "Are you alright, Cynder?" Cyril asked as he ran up to Cynder.

"His tailblade is deadly sharp. It's sharper than mine, which is something I never thought I'd… I'd ever say. The pain keeps… intensifying… getting worse…" Cynder said, beginning to break off as she released another scream of agony.

Spyro's otherworldly roar sounded again, and Cynder cursed as she forced herself to her paws. She flew up into the sky, blood dripping furiously down her foreleg, leaving droplets of blood of the ground. She didn't even check to see if Cyril, Pyron and Freeze were following her, but, knowing them, Cynder believed they were, although she didn't really care if they were or not. Cynder flew towards Spyro's roar, and gasped when she saw a young earth dragon standing in front on Spyro's shadowy figure. "RUN!" Cynder screamed, as air built up in her throat ready to release a huge gale of wind at Spyro.

A shadow dragon leapt up at her from out of the ground below her, and grabbed her, pulling her down. Cynder lost the air in her wings, and she, as well as the shadow dragon, plummeted to the ground. The shadow dragon was already wounded, its black blood mixing with her own. The dark blood stung profusely as it spilled over the wound on her leg, and she grit her teeth as she bit back the cry of pain. Cynder and the shadow dragon landed on the ground with a thud, and a few of Cynder's joints were dislocated under the weight and pressure of the impact and the shadow dragon on top of her, pinning her to the ground. The cry tore itself free this time. Cynder struggled under the shadow dragon, but the shadow dragon's already blood-stained claws dug into her flesh, drawing more blood and keeping her on the ground.

Cynder then heard the earth dragon she had seen earlier speak, and what she heard shocked her. She looked around to see the earth dragon a few metres in front of her as he spoke. She couldn't see his face; his back was turned to her. But the look on Spyro's face and the malice in his ruby eyes put fear in Cynder's heart. "The time has finally come! Take me, Spyro! I'm all yours!" the earth dragon cried, puffing his chest out, his voice quivering as if he was holding back tears.

Spyro burst into laughter. "What is this? Surrender? I must let you know, my only reward for those surrendering will be death. They don't deserve to live." Spyro said in amongst his laughter.

"What about an alliance?" the earth dragon asked, causing Spyro's laughter to stop immediately as his glance fixed on him, the expression in Spyro's eyes changing from dark humour to immediate anger. "I've waited for the moment I could meet a master of darkness. For _so long_ , I've only ever thought of becoming a warrior of darkness, and fighting for the only victor in the war for life and death."

"What the…?! _Where is this coming from_?!" Cynder screamed, only to be cut off by an agonising howl that tore from her throat as the shadow dragon on top of her raked its claws down her back, slowly, and agonisingly, spilling heaps of blood.

"I must say, this is unusual. Tell me, what is your name, young dragon?" Spyro asked, a thoughtful look on his dark features.

"My name is Drachen, Spyro, sir." the dragon replied.

"And tell me, Drachen, why all of a sudden, there is a dragon willing to come and ask to come to the dark side? After all these years from resistance and fighting against Malefor, only _now_ does someone see what the victorious side _really_ is." Spyro said with a hint of sadistic laughter.

"I saw during the Dark War all our world was made out to be. It was a world of death, caused by the powers of darkness. I realised that I could not preserve the lives of those I loved, and my own life, by resisting the darkness. I needed to join the dark powers to save myself. I figured, what was the point in living in the fear and limitations the enemy puts on you when _you_ could be the one inducing fear and placing those limitations, when _you_ could be living a free life in doing so?" Drachen explained. "I wanted to join Malefor so badly. Until you and Cynder destroyed him and ended the Dark War. I was so angry I murdered my family, blinded by my rage. I was driven out of Warfang because of that. Until recently, I'd been living alone in the forest, filled with constant rage and grief. For eight _years_! That was until I saw the dark forces shooting out of that mountain and into Warfang, and I knew this was where I could get my chance of becoming a dark warrior."

Spyro stared at Drachen and chuckled softly, before breaking out into big roars of sinister laughter that made Cynder's blood run cold as she struggled underneath the shadow dragon pinning her to the ground. "This is brilliant!" Spyro exclaimed, his voice rising with glee. "First a dragon who is _willing_ to give himself to the powers of darkness, and now he's already an experienced murderer! All I have left to say is… _WELCOME_!"

And with that, large tendrils of dark energy shot out of Spyro and buried themselves into Drachen's chest, shoulders and forehead. Drachen howled in pain as he was lifted off the ground by the dark tendrils. His eyes, nostrils and mouth began to glow an eerie purple colour as his scales blackened before Cynder's very eyes. Dark energy began to form around Drachen and swirl around him. The crevasses in between his scales began to emit bright purple light and his claws, fangs and horns began to grow into even more lethal weapons. They didn't become uneven and horrifically jagged like those that the shadow dragons wielded, but they were long and deadly enough to strike fear into an opponent's heart. His fangs curved inwards and saliva began to drip down his jaws.

A deafening high-pitched screech suddenly tore from Drachen's jaws, causing Cynder to scream in pain as the painful screeching increased in volume. Cynder heard others shouting in pain around her, but the screams were drowned out by the deafening screech that seemed to go on forever. Trying not to concentrate on the sound, Cynder screwed her eyes shut and grit her teeth, screaming through her gritted teeth.

Suddenly, the screeching stopped as Drachen fell to the ground and the dark tendrils retreated back to the shadowy cloak that surrounded Spyro. Cynder calmed down and took deep breaths as she opened her eyes and gasped when she turned and saw Drachen lying on his side. He had turned around so that Cynder could see his face. A deep growl emanated from his throat.

Drachen's eyes opened sharply, and sinister purple eyes similar to those the shadow dragons possessed stared from his eye sockets. He stood slowly to his paws, and began to slowly, carefully, _eerily_ , pace towards Cynder. Saliva dripped from his jaws as he opened them threateningly. Cynder let out a shout of distress as she clawed at the ground, but the shadow dragon increased its hold on her, causing more blood to seep out of her wounds. "Cynder!" she heard Cyril shout from behind her.

Cynder felt the weight on top of her disappear as the shadow dragon fell sideways, its head encased in ice. Cynder struggled to her paws, but was tackled by Drachen. He reared, opening his mouth ready to bring his jaws down around her neck, saliva pooling around his bottom lip, but was cut short as Spyro let out a roar. "Drachen! Enough." he ordered.

Drachen stepped off Cynder, a confused expression on his face. "I'm sorry, my master. Did I do something wrong?" Drachen asked, his voice deeper than it had been moments ago.

"No. I think we've done enough here. We've taken some lives, shown what we can do, and taken in a new ally. You." Spyro explained. "We will retreat back to Dark Peak for the time being. We'll figure out our next move from there. We don't want to take things too quickly."

Spyro opened his wings as he flew up into the sky. Drachen was about to do the same, but stopped as he saw only some of the shadow dragons follow Spyro. A few of them were downed, wings dislocated or missing, limbs twisted and wet black blood glistening over their dark scales. "Master Spyro? What about the wounded shadow dragons?" Drachen asked.

"I have no need for those who are merely soldiers who are downed or wounded. We don't need to waste resources on them. Kill them. I can create more at Dark Peak." Spyro replied and flew off into the distance.

Drachen opened his wings and ascended into the sky, his purple eyes glowing white as he summoned huge violet tendrils of energy from the ground that shot through the wounded shadow dragons' chests. When Drachen called the violet tendrils away, and left, flying after Spyro, the shadow dragons flopped onto the ground, dead, spilling immense amounts of black gore. Cynder looked beside her and saw the shadow dragon that had pinned her to the ground earlier, lying on its side with a burning hole in its chest and coming out of the other side of its back. Black blood spilled from both sides of the dragon's body, and the sight and stench sickened Cynder.

"What the hell has Spyro become?" Cynder breathed.

* * *

 **Got Chapter 55 done quicker than expected, so this chapter came out pretty quickly compared to a lot of the other ones. What do you all think of what Spyro's become? And how was the first action sequence of this story? I definitely believe the one I'm working on right now is so much better (but it's the climactic battle so of course it's going to be better), but I'm still pretty happy with this one, however this chapter didn't contain as much of the action as last chapter did.**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', hopefully this was a good enough scene for you on revealing what Spyro has become. Yeah with Nina and Flash being absent from _Broken Perceptions_ , I decided that I did want them to appear in this one. Not telling you when, though. But yes, I don't think it's going to be that much of a surprise that the news of Spyro's corruption will be broken to Nina and Flash (Sparx too), and again, it's not really that much of a surprise that they're going to take it badly. I'm looking forward to getting that scene up, because I was somewhat happy with that scene; I'll need to fix a few things up once I come to editing it, but it's pretty good.**

 **To 'lord typhlosion', they aren't actually normal shadow dragons. Got a bit of dragon history coming up in later chapters/parts as well, but I can say that all of the dragons of the dark elements (shadow, fear and poison) have been long extinct. But they're not zombies. You could call them some kind of mutant if you wish, but even then, that's not really what they are. Their real name will be revealed in a few chapters' time (yes, they have a special name).**

 **Thanks for your support everyone, and I guess I will see you soon, however long the next chapter of _Demonised_ (or _Bitten_ ) takes. A bit of an emotional chapter coming up next, so yeet!**


	13. Chapter 12: Emotions

"Are you alright, Cynder?" Terrador asked as he entered the infirmary to see how Cynder was recovering from the terrible wounds left from the battle.

The wound on Cynder's back that the shadow dragon that had pinned her down had given her had been cleaned thoroughly, but it was still open and glistening with small beads of dark red blood. It was partially closed, the healing process increased by red health gems. The healers, however, had said that it was quite a deep wound, and therefore meant that it couldn't be healed completely by red gems, so must be left to heal naturally over time. But that only went for a few of Cynder's wounds; most of them were small cuts and were healed completely by the red gems she was given, some of which left scars, and the few wounds that remained were still slightly open and excreting either blood or pus. The only other wounds in the same state as the long wound along her back were the wounds on her forelegs: The wound on her left foreleg from the savage bite of the shadow dragon that attacked her, Pyron and Freeze, and the wound on her right foreleg from the agile strike from Spyro's tailblade. They weren't bleeding as much as the deep wound on her back, but the red flesh was still visible. Her left foreleg had been mangled to the point where a small amount of bone was visible.

Cynder was in agony, but none compared to her emotional pain. It had been a day since the siege, and Cynder had been bawling her eyes out for almost the whole day, the shock of what happened the day before getting to her more than it ever had. It made it even worse when she reminded herself over and over again that this was Spyro. He had been her mate, her beloved. He had done this. He had done this to _her_. Every time she thought of Spyro, the forepaw that Spyro had stabbed stung even more. She didn't know what drove him to become this monstrous being, but right now, she couldn't care less.

Terrador sighed. Cynder hadn't made any move of acknowledging his presence. He cleared his throat with a deep rumble, startling her. The dark purple dragoness looked to Terrador and glared at him, eyes red and wet with tears. Terrador's heart fell at the sheer emotion behind Cynder's glare. Cynder opened her mouth and spoke, her voice hoarse from her screams and cries as she grieved for the life that once was and the events of yesterday's siege. "Do you think I'm alright?" Cynder croaked. "I've lost _everything_. My _life_ is falling apart! I don't deserve this!"

The guardian mouthed wordlessly, stepping backwards. He had never seen this much emotion in Cynder. _Ever_. To be honest, it scared him; not much ever scared the strong, calm earth guardian. He had always hated seeing people emotional. He had always hated _being_ emotional. It hurt to see others that he cared about struggling in life. He always knew that life was going to be tough for him and those he loved, but this was entirely different to anything that he could ever imagine. The pain behind Cynder's gaze was too much for him to bear, and he knew that when Cynder was upset, she would get angry, and she was not a girl to mess with when she was angry.

He was treading on dangerous ground here. He remembered what had happened a few days ago when he had spoken without thinking and told Cynder blindly that she had murdered his family during her time under Malefor's control. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's in your head right now. I just wanted to let you know that we're here for you. There are others who love you, Cynder." Terrador said, pausing before adding, "We loved Spyro, too. I don't know why he did what he did. It hurts us, too. We're grieving like you are. We're in this together."

Cynder opened her mouth to spit a retort back at Terrador, but the earth guardian quickly cut her off, raising his voice slightly to get Cynder's attention. "And _don't_ say I don't know what you're going through! Because I _know_ that. _Nothing_ I have been through could have _ever_ prepared me for any of this, nor will it _ever_ compare to what you're going through. But we're here for you. Cyril, Volteer, and I are here for you. Pyron and Freeze, too. I'm sure Rubblerust, as well." he said. "You can come and talk to us if you need to. I just… I just hate seeing you like this."

The dragoness continued to stare at Terrador before looking away again, staring at her paws. Her bright silver claws were still stained black from the oddly coloured blood of the shadow dragons. Terrador saw more tears welling up in Cynder's eyes, and he swallowed nervously, before taking a step forward. Then another. He slowly made his way up to Cynder, before he embraced her in a hug with his large wings. Terrador felt Cynder lean into his chest as she began to weep. The guardian began to tear up as well. It had been about eighty years since his last hug. It felt good to finally embrace someone again, even though he wasn't the one that was in need of it.

Terrador heard footsteps and slowly turned his head towards the sound, still holding Cynder in the embrace, not caring about what anyone thought. Luckily, it was only Cyril. But as Cyril turned his head around and looked at Terrador, the earth guardian could only gasp with shock at the sight of Cyril's face. A bandage was wrapped around the top left side of Cyril's face, running around his left horn (although there were several bits of plaster around his horn to put it back in place) and over his left eye. Small blotches of blood showed through the bandage where the wounds continued to bleed, and small bits of some wounds and scars showed from underneath the bandage, continuing to run down his face. The wound that ran from the left corner of his mouth to the edge of his jawline was nothing but a small line, but Terrador could see by the red around the line that it was still incredibly painful. "I'm okay." Cyril reassured Terrador. "It just hurts a little, and they said that the wounds need time to heal naturally. The healers said I'm alright to leave today. Is Cynder okay?"

Terrador sighed, feeling Cynder shiver in his embrace as she wept, her tears wetting his chest. "She's fine physically, but mentally and emotionally, she's a wreck." Terrador said sadly. "I don't know what to do."

Cyril walked towards Cynder and Terrador and sat down next to them. "I'm so, so sorry for what happened, Cynder. I wish we could have stopped it." Cyril said softly, and Terrador pulled back his wings so Cynder could hear Cyril properly, revealing her red-eyed, teary face that rested against Terrador's chest. "If there's anything we can do to help, just let us know. I… I'm not great in moments like these, I never have; but I want to help, I really do."

"I know." Cynder croaked, and Terrador's heart sank at how helpless the normally strong Cynder sounded.

Cynder pulled herself away from Terrador and shuffled painfully over to the corner of the room and rested her head against where the walls joined and continued to sob in anguish. Terrador sat and watch Cynder weep, before he eventually sighed and stood up before walking away, leaving Cynder alone in her recovery room, as Cyril followed. "I feel so bad for Cynder right now. I just don't know what we can do for her." the ice guardian said as they left the infirmary.

"I know. I'm exactly the same." Terrador replied. "I hate seeing anyone like this, and I want to help Cynder get through it, but I don't know how. This is something far beyond me for once. If Ignitus were here I even think _he'd_ struggle with a situation like this."

Cyril just mumbled in agreement. "I wish he was still here." Cyril murmured. "The world just feels… so empty without him. I know he died eight years ago, and we all got ourselves past it, but in a time like this where we need him…" Cyril paused as he held back a choking sob, trying to fight the tears that threatened to leave his eyes. "It's hitting me once more, although much harder than last time."

"I know." Terrador said as they made their way down the streets of Warfang to head back to the Temple. "He was a great friend. We've been friends since I was six. I think he was about ten when we first met. He was so pure, so kind-hearted, so… so selfless. Even at such a young age. He didn't change much as we got older. He just got wiser, and he would walk around with a sense of maturity that I didn't see in many dragons older than Ignitus was. He knew what he was doing when he sacrificed himself. But it doesn't make it hurt any less."

Cyril mumbled once more, before silence settled over them for the rest of the trip back to the Warfang Temple. They arrived and walked into the Temple, expecting Volteer to be there to greet them, but they were surprised when he wasn't there. Terrador tried calling out his name. Nothing. "Where is he? This is kind of peculiar for Volteer to just go missing like this." Cyril said. "Was he here before you left?"

"Yes, he was." Terrador said, scrunching up his face. "I wonder where he could be."

"I'm right here, guys." Volteer's voice sounded from behind him.

Terrador and Cyril turned around to greet Volteer and gasped with shock as they realised that Volteer had been crying, his eyes red and watery. "Are you alright?" Cyril asked.

"My, uh… my daughter. She died in the attack." Volteer murmured. "Her mate said Spyro killed her. It wasn't quick either. He cut out her eyes, amputated her forepaws, and left several bites and tailblade wounds in her body. She bled to death in pure agony, unable to see her mate's loving face as she died, unable to hold his paws as she had none to hold them with. I saw the corpse, and she was a terrible, _bloody_ mess!"

Terrador and Cyril looked at each other with increasing worry in their eyes as Volteer's voice gradually increased into a savage growl, showing such sheer emotion from someone who was always so incredibly happy and optimistic. Volteer inhaled with a shuddering breath and continued speaking through gritted teeth. "How could he have done this?" he snarled, his voice continuing to rise into a savage growl as spittle flew from his mouth. "Spyro was the most loving dragon I had ever met, and then he goes and does this?! How _could_ he?! I hope he dies the same way Verah did!"

"Volteer, calm down." Terrador said calmly.

"Shut up!" Volteer growled, looking up at Terrador with bloodshot eyes and clenched fangs. "Just _shut up_!"

Volteer stormed past Terrador and Cyril and into the Temple, turning into the hallway and disappearing from their view. A loud slam sounded from down the corridor, and Terrador and Cyril could only stare down the hall. "What do we do now?" Cyril asked after a long time of silence, turning back to look at Terrador.

"Volteer can't be gone. We need his optimism in a time like this." Terrador said. "There's been so many times where his optimism has helped us get through grief and tough situations, as much we never wanted to admit it."

Cyril could only nod. He averted his gaze, a tear forming in his right eye. "For once, I feel helpless as a guardian." Cyril muttered. "I don't know what to do."

"Where's Ignitus when we need him?" Terrador asked once more, tears forming in his eyes as he turned and walked out of the Temple, looking up into the grey, cloudy sky above him and raising his voice in a pained shout. "Help us, Ignitus! Wherever you are, give us the strength to keep going! Give us the power to help others! I don't know what to do anymore; you were _always_ there for me! _Why did you have to die_?!"

Terrador lowered his haunches to the ground as he sat, mourning for his old childhood friend. Cyril could only watch. This was something he knew he _couldn't_ interrupt. Terrador hardly ever mourned openly. But he needed this. He needed to cry out to Ignitus, wherever he was in the Ancestral Realm. "We played together. We laughed together. We cried together. We argued together. We fought together." Terrador cried. "We did _everything_ together! You were an only child, and you were _all_ I _had_! You were my friend! You were my _family_!"

The earth guardian sniffled and let out a loud roar of sheer emotional pain, throwing his head back as he did so. The roar faltered, losing its force, and he lowered his head, sitting with his jaws open in a soundless wail as he tried to get his breath back. He inhaled sharply, before throwing his head back again, letting out another howl. It took Terrador a few minutes to calm himself down, and when he finally recomposed himself, he suddenly felt very embarrassed for screaming and howling in public where everyone could see him. But the faces that he did see as he looked up weren't faces of judgement or criticism like he thought they would be. They were faces of concern and shared pain. Scars and blood still covered some of their bodies, and some of them were crying as well, mourning for those they loved who had died in the siege, taking Terrador's mourning as a sign that they weren't alone, as they began to cry along with the earth guardian. Terrador turned his head as he saw a young fire dragon walk up to him from his periphereal vision. The fire dragon stopped in front of Terrador, and Terrador saw that the eyes of the young dragon were reddened with tears of pain. The red eyes also burned with such passion, that Terrador couldn't look at them any longer, and he looked away.

Terrador suddenly felt wings around him, and realised that the dragon had embraced him, the same way he had done so with Cynder. But he could feel tears on his shoulder, and he turned to see the fire dragon crying softly. Terrador smiled sadly and closed his eyes, letting more tears slip out of his eyes as he returned the hug. For a moment, Terrador felt like a child again, stuck in an embrace with a young Ignitus. Then he heard the fire dragon speak. Although he was young, the fire drake's words were wise. "I'm not Ignitus, but I know, wherever he is, that he'll be proud of you. You've pulled through the hurt for these eight long years and kept the guardian team going. Keep Ignitus' memory flowing, and he will always live in your hearts." he said, tears streaming from his eyes. "You're not the only one mourning. We've all lost people. But don't forget to seek help, and mourn in your own way, in a way that helps you get over the loss and remember those you loved. If it means getting out in public and doing this, then so be it. We're all with you, Terrador."

The fire dragon pulled away from Terrador, and they stared into their eyes for a moment. Terrador thought he could see a little of Ignitus in the young dragon's eyes and face. But then Ignitus' presence was gone, and the fire dragon turned and left. Terrador smiled as he called after the fire dragon. "Thanks! I needed that!" Terrador called.

But the fire dragon didn't answer. He continued to walk into the distance, and then he was gone, left behind other dragons and many buildings. Terrador brought up a paw and wiped his eyes and smiled. He heard Cyril walk up behind him. "You were brave, Terrador, you know that?" he said. "I'm sure Ignitus is proud of you, and he's watching you. He's watching all of us."

Terrador turned to Cyril and smiled, standing up. "Thank you." Terrador said.

"Like that dragon said, we're all mourning, and we all mourn in our own ways. And it takes time." Cyril said as a warm smile tugged on his lips. "Let's rest now. We'll see how Cynder and Volteer are doing tomorrow."

* * *

 **Wow, last month has been my most inactive month; I only posted four chapters in total (three on _Demonsied_ , one on _Bitten_ ). I sincerely apologise for that, but I have to prioritise. School is really important, and I have a lot of stuff on my plate for school alone, as well as all my other hobbies. I'm currently learning how to do 3D modelling (I use Blender; it's great and completely free), and I'm really enjoying it. I'm currently modelling Lefty from _Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator_ , and although I've made a few mistakes, I'm pretty happy with it for a first-time attempt doing 3D modelling. I've also been spending a lot of time on _Ultimate Custom Night_ , trying to beat 47/20 mode. I've beaten 45/20, which has increased my high score to 9000, but darn, it's getting hard now (took two hours to beat 45/20, and currently at an hour for 47/20).**

 **I'll try to get extra work on this done, but I can't guarantee that the next chapter will be up too soon. It'll probably be at least another two or three weeks before the next chapter comes out, so I'm really sorry for that. But thanks for showing your support and interest in the reviews.**

 **To a guest, the reason behind Spyro's corruption will come soon, but it won't be for a while unfortunately. Basically, it's speculation time for the readers, because I don't think I have the main reason behind Spyro's corruption until early- or mid-Part 3 (really sorry, but with the events of Parts 1 and 2 in mind, I can't really get it done sooner). I do have little hints being thrown out there throughout Parts 1 and 2, however, so pay close attention. I also believe Part 2 is one of the shorter ones, if not the shortest, so depending on how things go, I should be able to get Part 2 over and done with fairly quickly.**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', just like your question with how long Spyro will be dark for, I'm not going to say how many Parts Drachen will be in. He does play a major role, especially in later Parts, but I'm keeping my mouth shut on this one. He does have a major scene in _Demonised_ however, so you can look forward to that one.**

 **Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed this one. Sorry for the wait, and it's probably going to be a bit of a wait for the next chapter, too. Well, there's a bit more action in a few chapters' time (two or three I think), so get prepared for that one.**

 **Bye!**


	14. Chapter 13: Discussions

About three days passed. Cynder had healed enough to be able to leave the infirmary, but she still spent most of her time isolated and depressed. Even when she was in company with her friends or the guardians, she would hardly speak. It was worrying at how many tears Cynder had shed over the past three days. Just yesterday, she had had a huge panic attack, hallucinating. She was recovering quicker after the panic attack compared to after the siege on Warfang a few days prior, but she still had shed a lot of tears, and distanced herself a lot.

Terrador and Cyril had spent more time trying to help Volteer, however, as they needed him to help run Warfang and get the army back up, now that there was another war, and a _much_ bigger one than the last one to make matters worse. Volteer had been reluctant, but agreed to help, although he was almost always in a grumpy state now as he grieved for his daughter. It quickly came to Terrador and Cyril's attention that they needed someone else to take care of the army duties. They couldn't do it on their own (they didn't have anywhere _near_ enough time, plus they had more important matters to tend to), and Volteer couldn't do it with his increasing anger issues, so they needed someone to be brought up to the role of organising army patrols. Terrador and Cyril quickly agreed that it should be Cynder; she used to be the army general in Malefor's dark army (and surely, they hoped she would retain some of that knowledge from that time), and it may help take her mind off her grief for what life could have been for her.

But when they asked Cynder, she didn't take it as well as they had hoped. "Seriously? You want _me_ to take control of your armies?" she asked.

"Yeah." Cyril said. "We know you have experience. We could use that to our advantage."

"My time as a dark puppet was _nothing_ like what you think it was!" Cynder shouted savagely. "I will _not_ be taking that role, because all that role had to offer me then was pain and suffering! It was because of me, of _my orders_ , that countless dragons died in the Dark War. When I would mess up, I would be punished. _Badly_. I don't want to be reminded of that. Gaul's punishments were terrible. Merciless. _Bloody_! THEY WERE AN ABSOLUTE _NIGHTMARE_!"

"We're not like that, you know that pretty damn well, Cynder." Terrador explained. "Look, we're too busy to be worrying about our armies, and we have no one else that has had experience in this. You have, from dark experiences or not. We're not asking you to order murder, although it will only be Spyro's minions. We're not asking you to be cruel and relentless in training sessions or attempt to torture anyone. Be hard on them, to toughen them up, especially since we've had eight years of peace, but we're not asking you to be so tough on them that they hate the experience."

Cynder just glared at Terrador and Cyril. "Look, I'll think about it, okay? But I really don't feel like I want to. It… it just brings back too many memories of those I murdered. I even killed _apes_. APES! CREATURES ON MY OWN DAMNED SIDE! Because I thought it was _fun_. Because I _wanted_ to." Cynder replied, tears glistening in her emerald green eyes. "Those memories are too painful to relive."

"We don't want to force this on you, Cynder. We understand if you don't want to." Terrador said. "But… it would be a big help if you did take this role."

Cynder nodded. She turned, about to leave the Warfang Temple, when she fell to the ground in pain, ears ringing. She let out a shout and squeezed her eyes shut, flexing her claws in the ground. Cynder heard Terrador trying to ask her something, but his voice was muffled out by the piercing ringing of her ears. Suddenly, voices began to speak in her head.

 _They are coming. The shadowclaws are coming. Help us!_

 _The shadowclaws are coming to take us… They want something…_

 _They're trying to find something! But we don't know what! Someone help!_

 _So much… blood… It's a massacre!_

 _They won't stop until they find what they're looking for…_

Suddenly, an image of dead, bloodied corpses appeared in front of her eyes, flickering quickly between different bodies so Cynder couldn't get a glimpse of the dragons that had been murdered. But one, final image stood out for a few moments longer, and Cynder could just make out a glowing grey shape. A crystal.

One more voice spoke. _They're looking for the Sound Gem._

Then her vision went black, and the ringing in her ears intensified for a moment, before dying away, her vision returning to normal. When she returned to the waking world, the first thing she registered was pain. A gravelly pain in her throat, most likely from screaming, and a piercing burning on the pads on her left forepaw. She looked down and saw a cut, bleeding only slightly, and small beads of blood on the claws on her right forepaw. Had she cut herself?

Cynder looked around, her ears numb and sore from the ringing and hearing failing her. She saw Terrador crouching in front of her, a worried expression on his face, and Cyril standing behind him, mirroring Terrador's expression. Terrador spoke frantically, his voice nothing but a frantic, muffled shout and his words indistinguishable.

Cynder focused on slowing her breathing, her heart beating heavily and rapidly against her chest, the muffled bass of the sound resonating in her ears. She gaped her jaws in a wide yawn and shook her head, and all her senses returned to normal. "Cynder! Answer me!" Terrador shouted, sounding really desperate.

"What?" Cynder asked, her voice hoarse from her screaming.

"Are you alright?" Terrador breathed, his voice shaking.

"Yes, I'm fine." Cynder replied. "I'm just… I'm just a little… shaken."

"What happened just then?" Cyril questioned. "You can tell us. We _need_ to know. This concerns everybody. It's not just your problem, now. It's _everybody's_ now that there's a war."

Cyril's voice rose with fear as he kept talking, his voice and body trembling. Cynder had never seen him so afraid before. The wounds he received from the siege must have also scarred him mentally. With the Dark War just finished, and being a witness and a victim to something as horrible as Spyro's betrayal and the terrible shadow dragons that had attacked them, Cynder could understand Cyril's fear.

Terrador turned to Cyril with a stern expression. "Try to contain your fear, Cyril. If we want Cynder to feel safe, we need to keep ourselves together." Terrador said.

"No. I feel _safer_ amongst others who I feel I can be on the _same page_ with." Cynder said, looking up at Cyril, who was trying hard to stop himself from trembling. "If there's one thing you all taught me, it's to let my emotions out. My fears, my worries, _everything_. It's time _you_ do the same."

There was silence for a moment as the two guardians contemplated her words, before Cyril broke it. "What happened? What did you see? Or hear? Or… whatever?" he asked. "Was it future sight?"

"No, I've lost my future sight, I know that for a fact. It's incredibly rare to have future sight for life, Earthshaker said so himself in _Glimpses of the Future_." Cynder replied. "But… I think I have something similar to Ignitus. He was one of the few dragons who could see in the Pool of Visions. But I could have it in my head. Some sort of connection… to… something. I don't really know."

"Well what did you see?" Terrador asked.

"I just saw mainly a bunch of corpses and heard a lot of voices as the corpses flashed quickly among my gaze. They kept saying odd things like 'They're coming' or 'They won't stop until they find what they're looking for' and stuff like that." Cynder explained. "The voices also kept referring to these 'shadowclaws'. The last thing I saw was a glowing grey crystal for a few moments while a voice said that 'They're looking for the Sound Gem' or something like that, before everything just stopped and went back to normal. I don't know what any of the voices were referring to, though, or what any of the corpses were signifying."

Shouting came from outside. "What now?!" Terrador asked, standing up.

An ice dragoness ran inside the Warfang Temple, breathing heavily. "It's Dark Peak!" she cried, using the name Spyro had used to refer to the mountain he had taken refuge inside. "It's spitting out more dark missiles!"

Cynder scrambled to her feet and followed Terrador and Cyril as they walked out of the Warfang Temple and looked upon Dark Peak as they saw the same bright flashes and purple missiles that had shot out of the summit a few days before. But this time, the missiles were aimed in a different direction. The missiles' landing points weren't visible as they disappeared out of sight behind the walls of Warfang, getting smaller as they moved further away from them. The sight made Cynder uncomfortable, and she realised that this new war was really happening. It was becoming _real_. Soon, _no one_ would be safe from the claws of darkness.

"Where is he planning to attack _now_?" Cynder breathed.

"Wait…" Cyril said, eyes widening in shock. "That's in the direction of another city!"

"By the ancestors, you're right, Cyril!" Terrador cried. "That's _Jorgarath_!"

"That's my _hometown_!" Cyril exclaimed with fear. "Everyone's in danger! No one knows how to fight there; it's a peaceful city in the snowy mountains! They can't attack _there_!"

Cynder's head filled with distressed screams. "They've arrived. There's screams everywhere." Cynder said.

"We've got to go!" Cyril pleaded. "Please, Terrador! I can't leave my hometown to fall apart like this!"

"Alright. We'll go." Terrador said. "Bring a few guards as well. We leave now."

* * *

 **Chapter 56… is over 11 000 words long! HOW DID I DO THAT?!**

 **That's the longest chapter I've ever written, and probably will ever write, depending on how the rest of _Purple Legacy_ goes. But damn, I'm really impressed with myself, especially at the speed I wrote it in, as well as with all my assignments for school and stuff (although I procrastinated all weekend because I spent over nine hours on one of my assignments in two days and I was just fed up with school work – also I'm sick lolp).**

 **Anyway, hopefully this was a good chapter. Boring filler but meh, action next chapter!**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', like I said multiple times, this story is M for a reason, and it's not a happy story, as you can definitely tell by the sheer emotion in the last chapter. But let me tell you, it's just gonna get worse. Not gonna say if there's a deus ex machina or not, but if there is, I still haven't written it yet, so it's going to be way past Chapter 50. And with how much progression there is, I bet you can guess how bad things are going to get by that stage.**

 **As for the fire dragon that comforted Terrador, I didn't explain it as well as I thought I did, so let me elaborate. That dragon is _not_ the one from Cynder's future visions; he will come in later. Remember that the dragon from the future vision had _purple_ eyes. If this one did, it would definitely be noticeable, and I would have written it. So, this goes to say that this dragon has regular fire-coloured eyes, being red or orange, and is therefore not the dragon from the future vision. So I apologise for my poor explanation there, that's probably the first time I've written an explanation that poorly before. That just goes to show that no matter how much you as a writer knows, you need to include all the detail, even the obvious, because some people may not pick it up. So that's a lesson learned for me.**

 **Finally, it's going to be a while before Forzen returns. Not going to elaborate anymore, because I don't want to spoil anything, but it'll be a long while. However, when we next see him, it'll be in Spyro's lair, Dark Peak.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Again, not sure how long until the next chapter, especially as I said two to three weeks last chapter but in reality, it was a little over one. Let's just say I'm a little all over the place right now…**

 **BYE**


	15. Chapter 14: Attack on Jorgarath

It was about a ten-minute flight to the city of Jorgarath. The sky was dark, filled with black clouds as Dark Peak continued to spew out more dark missiles, now in countless different directions. On the odd occasion, one would head towards Jorgarath, but the missiles were now spreading out in different directions, ready to attack other cities or to take refuge in the wild ready to ambush an unsuspecting dragon with their guard down.

When they reached Jorgarath, there were already many dead, and many trying to fight for their lives, their blood streaming everywhere, staining the snow in the cold, small city dark red. Bodies of hatchlings were sprawled out on the snow as well as many adult dragons, and children were being buried underground to hide them from the shadow dragons. Cyril let out an enraged roar at the devastation his hometown was in, and dropped to the ground, severing the heads of two shadow dragons with a forceful, quick swipe of his icy tailblade, sending black gore flying everywhere. Cynder, Terrador and the guards they brought with them landed as well. One of the guards landed in the black blood that pooled out of the neck of one of the shadow dragons Cyril had killed, almost falling backwards, sending blood spraying everywhere as he kicked out to regain his balance.

"Cyril! Thanks for saving us!" an ice dragoness cried, raising from her cower. Obviously, she was in the middle of being attacked when Cyril appeared, even more believable at the sight of the blood running down her face in huge, excessive amounts. Cynder then noticed the amount of blood streaming from her left eye socket and realised that the dragoness was missing the eye that should be inside it.

"Go! Run!" Cyril shouted, sounding more desperate than Cynder had ever heard him, and the dragoness turned and ran.

"Cyril, where are the supervisors or council of Jorgarath?" Terrador asked. "We need to find them to make sure they're safe and that we can help them take back the city!"

"They're at the Ice Castle over there!" Cyril replied, pointing to a large frost-covered stone structure in the distance.

"Well to the Ice Castle we go, then!" Terrador scowled, running off in the direction of the Ice Castle.

As they ran, they sliced through the many shadow dragons that leapt at them, either killing them or wounding them so they couldn't follow, cutting off paws and wings and clawing at the shadow dragons wildly. Cynder took down three shadow dragons before she was tackled by two more, causing her to fall away from the group of Warfangian dragons. "Cynder!" one of the guards shouted, running over to help her.

"I'll be fine! Go with the others, I'll catch up!" Cynder shouted as she threw off the shadow dragons, stabbing one of them in the chest with her tailblade, spraying black blood all over the once white snow.

"No! We need you! _Warfang_ needs you! We can't afford to lose you, so get up!" the guard refused as he released a beam of electricity at one of the shadow dragons, stunning it as it fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

Cynder stood up and finished off one of the shadow dragons, and turned to pin the other shadow dragon to the ground while the guard finished it off. Three more shadow dragons leapt at them, and Cynder leapt into her shadow, running underneath a shadow dragon before leaping up into the air, skewering the shadow dragon on her horns as the shadow dragon screeched in pain, before falling silent. The black gore showered onto Cynder's forehead before spilling down onto her nape, back and shoulders, gleaming on her dark scales. She threw the shadow dragon off her horns and gasped as she saw bright purple mist fall from the wound her left horn made. She looked down at the dragon and saw in the chest wound a flickering purple glow. Filled with curiosity and confusion, she walked forward and dug her claws into the shadow dragon's wound, prying it open forcefully to get a better look inside, and gasped when she saw, amongst the black blood that gushed out of the wound, a thick ribcage, encased in yet another ribcage, much thicker than the one inside, and saw a purple crystal inside the inner ribcage, next to the heart. The purple crystal had lost its glow and was completely smashed, and all of the dragon's systems stopped, and Cynder gasped as she realised what gave the shadow dragon its life. _The heart may be punctured and blood being lost, but it's the crystal that keeps the dragons animated._ Cynder thought, slicing through the dragon's neck and looked up it. _The crystal's power flows through extra 'veins' as such, that run up the neck and seemingly into the brain; I can see a few going into the dragon's heart._

Cynder savagely cut open the shadow dragon's head and saw the dark purple 'veins' running into the shadow dragon's brain. _That's why they die when they lose their head, because the crystal needs to be connected to the brain. But a simple throat slit may cut one vein, but the others will still be active._ Cynder thought, eyes widening. _I understand how these guys work, now!_

A scream interrupted her from her thoughts. _Oh no! The guard!_ she thought as she turned around.

Her heart sank at what she saw.

The guard lay on the ground, pinned by three shadow dragons who savagely clawed at him. Cynder couldn't see the extent of his wounds, but she saw immense amounts of red blood pooling out from underneath the shadow dragons, staining the snow. Cynder let out a roar and slammed into the side of one of the shadow dragons, sending it flying into the other two, knocking them off the broken guard lying at her feet. "Don't worry about me, Cynder. Go get 'em." Cynder heard him croak.

Without looking down at the guard, Cynder leapt over him and clawed at the shadow dragons, waiting for the perfect time to stab them in the chest. One shadow dragon reared on its hind paws, towering over Cynder as it roared, baring its crooked, uneven fangs. Cynder growled as she plunged her tailblade into the shadow dragon's chest, causing it to stagger. She fiddled around inside the shadow dragon's chest, causing the other two shadow dragons to rear in fear. One of them let out a low, shaky growl. Cynder didn't know what it meant, but she could guess what the shadow dragons were thinking. _She knows our weakness._

With a loud bellow, she yanked her tailblade out of the shadow dragon's chest, sending a fountain of black blood gushing over her and down the dragon's chest as it toppled over, dead. "I figured out where your weak point lies, you fiends!" Cynder roared as she lifted up her tailblade, covered completely in black blood, with a shattered purple crystal skewered on it.

The two shadow dragons yelped in fear, running off into the distance. Cynder watched them run. They then leapt onto another ice dragon. A low, painful groan tore her out of her murderous thoughts, and Cynder turned and looked down with a gasp at the guard that lay in front of her. His chest had been torn open, revealing the entirety of his snapped ribcage and the punctured lungs and heart, spilling rivers of the dark red blood that his heart failed to pump to his body. His left eye had also been cut out, and his hind right leg had been sliced clean off, lying beside him in a fountain of blood. His remaining eye was staring sightlessly into the sky, as she realised the groan she heard would be the guard's last.

Cynder then remembered the others, knowing that they might need her. After relocating the Ice Castle, she ran off towards it to see a pile of dead bodies, most of them Jorgarathian dragons, in front of the large courtyard that stood in front of the Ice Castle. Cynder noticed Terrador, squirming underneath two shadow dragons. The vision of the dead guard that had decided to stay back and fight with her was still vivid in her mind, and, not wanting that to happen to Terrador, she leapt at the shadow dragons, knocking them off the earth guardian. His left shoulder was covered in his own blood, and blood spilled from the right corner of his mouth. Terrador let out a startled gurgle, blood spilling from his lips and hanging in large repulsive strings between his jaws as he did so, as Cynder wrestled on the ground with the two shadow dragons. She swung her tailblade about wildly, and Terrador shuffled backwards to avoid getting wounded by the flailing tailblade. Cynder swung her tailblade through the neck of a shadow dragon, sending its head flying, leaving a trail of thick, black blood as the head slid across the ice. She threw the body off her as she continued to roll on the ground with the other shadow dragon. She put both her forepaws on the shadow dragon's shoulders and managed to get into a position where she could pin the shadow dragon to the ground, and get away from the jagged claws and the gnashing fangs. When she pinned the shadow dragon to the ground, she rose her tailblade, and then brought it down into the shadow dragon's chest, hearing a snap and feeling the first set of ribs snapping around her tailblade. She worked her tailblade through the second ribcage, ignoring the terrible screeches that came from the shadow dragon's jaws, and felt the crystal against her tailblade. The shadow dragon felt the tailblade against the crystal inside of it, and its eyes widened, shaking its head pleadingly. Cynder forcefully plunged her tailblade into the crystal, shattering it with an audible crack, and ripped it out of the dragon's chest, causing the shadow dragon to let out an unearthly wail before falling silent, it's black tongue lolling out of its mouth.

"Cynder! Are you alright?!" Cyril cried, running up next to Cynder.

"I'm fine." Cynder said. "I know what the shadow dragons' weakness is."

"Tell us inside!" an elderly ice dragoness with bloody cuts on her face and shoulders shouted, running into the Ice Castle.

Cyril and the guards that were still alive followed her. Cynder helped Terrador to his paws, before following them. Terrador closed the large door behind him and locked it so no shadow dragons could get into the Ice Castle too easily. "Warfangians, we're glad to see you here!" the elderly ice dragoness said. "My name is Shargran, and I am the dragon of authority in Jorgarath."

"It's good to see you're all well, Mistress Shargran." Cyril said, bowing his head in respect. "I'm so very sorry this is happening."

"Care to tell us why? I thought Malefor was destroyed." Shargran said, turning her head to Cynder. "And tell me, where's the purple dragon of legend who saved the world with you?"

"It turns out…" Cynder started, with a hysterical chuckle, filled with anger at the ironic statement. "…that _Spyro_ is the one behind this attack."

"You mean to say that the purple dragon turned into the next Malefor?!" Shargran exclaimed.

"Yes, Mistress." Cynder replied. "He's created these shadow dragons, and they're looking for this 'Sound Gem', if I remember correctly."

"Sound Gem?" Shargran questioned. "What's that?"

"That's just it. We have no clue." Terrador said, shrugging. "Cynder had this auditory vision, or whatever the hell you want to call it, that warned us of this siege, as well as telling us that Spyro was searching for this 'Sound Gem'."

"Well… we're just as helpless as we were beforehand…" Shargran murmured with a groan of annoyance.

" _But_ I did make a good discovery just now." Cynder interrupted.

"Really, Cynder? What was it?" Cyril asked.

"Inside the shadow dragons' chests, they have two sets of ribs. One ribcage, the outer one, is really thick and tough. It surrounds the one on the inside as protection to it, and the contents inside of it, like the lungs and heart." Cynder explained. "But inside that second ribcage, next to the heart, is this glowing purple crystal, that I've managed to bring with me."

Cynder raised her tail, showing the dull, shattered purple crystal that was still skewered on her blood-stained tailblade. Cynder heard a few guards gasp and saw Cyril and Shargran exchange a shocked glance. Terrador's eyes flickered from the shattered crystal, to Cynder, then back to the crystal. "Continue. What importance does this crystal have?" Terrador asked, voice hollow.

"To me, it seems that it is the shadow dragons' life source. You've noticed how the shadow dragons seem to continue to bleed and bleed and never die, right? I think that their heart is just something that allows them to be at full strength, and they just slow down when their heart stops or they lose blood." Cynder explained. "But this crystal, this once glowing, energised crystal, is filled with dark energy, and is connected with purple tendrils that act similar to veins to the heart, keeping it pumping despite being punctured, and pumping the energy through its body, and to the brain, to keeps its body functioning normally. That dark crystal is what keeps the shadow dragons animated. So, when it is shattered or destroyed, it stops working, and is unable to provide life for the dragon. And the veins that connects the crystal to the brain run up the neck, and so when they are beheaded, like the strategy we've been using all this time, the crystal loses all connection to the brain, meaning that the body can't move, and eventually, without the connection, the crystal dies out as its power seeps out of the sliced veins and into the air. That's why a slit throat doesn't work, because it only slices a few veins in the front of the neck, but those in the sides and back of the neck are still connected, keeping the shadow dragon alive."

Cyril, Terrador and Shargran stared at each other with shock. It was a while before anyone spoke. "You found out all that?" Terrador asked. "How and when?"

"Just earlier. I destroyed a crystal earlier and saw purple mist from the crystal come out of the wound. I did a little digging and opened up the wound I made, and I had a look." Cynder said. "But ancestors, all that _gore_ I had to go through. I _hated_ it. But I needed to know what this strange thing was."

"And we're glad you did." Cyril said. "Now we know so much more about these shadow dragons."

Suddenly, there was a loud banging sound. Every dragon inside the Ice Castle jumped, turning around to look at the door. There was silence for a while, until the banging sounded again. "Open this door!" a rough voice roared.

"Who was that?" Cyril asked in a hushed voice, not knowing if the dragon behind the new voice was hostile or not. "Doesn't sound like anyone I know."

"It's not anyone from Jorgarath, I know that much." Shargran murmured.

"It's not Drachen, and it's _definitely_ not Spyro." Cynder said, her voice shaking.

"By order of the Shadow General, open up!" the voice roared again as there was more banging, and cracks appeared in the door, causing Cynder, Shargran, the guardians and the guards to huddle up protectively around one another.

The banging sounds were more steady and even. It sounded like someone was ramming their shoulders into the door to open it. Then, with a loud smash, the doors flew open, revealing a large shadow dragon. Its teeth and claws were slightly more even and orderly than those of a normal shadow dragon, and its eyes were red instead of purple, but had the same eerie look with the black pupils and sclerae. The markings on its forelegs were exactly the same as those of a normal shadow dragon's, except they were red, and this shadow dragon had the markings all over its body, like Cynder. It even wore a metal headpiece that was dark and sinister, and wore extra pieces of armour that protected it. The thickest looking piece of armour was around its chest, where the purple crystal was buried inside. The shadow dragon opened its mouth, and out came a deep, masculine voice. "I told you to open the doors, did I not?" the dragon asked, baring his teeth in a hideous smile.

"What?! A shadow dragon that can talk?" one of the guards cried.

"I am not just _any_ shadowclaw, you insolent fool! I am Shorok, the Shadow General, leader of the shadowclaws." the shadow dragon boomed.

"So they're calling themselves shadowclaws." Cynder muttered to herself.

"But isn't _Drachen_ the leader of Spyro's dark army?" Terrador asked. "Drachen's his second-in-command!"

"Silence, fool! He may be the leader of the dark armies, but _I_ am in charge of the shadowclaw division!" Shorok roared.

"There's _more_ types of dragons, then?!" Shargran exclaimed, fear edging her shaky voice.

"There soon will be." Shorok growled, before pacing towards the Warfangian dragons and the Jorgarathian leader, licking his lips with a wet, black tongue, before raising his voice once again. "I have been sent here with my army of shadowclaws to find an item that Spyro wants."

"The Sound Gem." Cynder muttered in realisation.

Shorok turned his head towards Cynder as a sinister smile tugged on his lips, revealing the straighter, yet just as sharp and terrifying fangs that filled his mouth. "So you've heard of it." Shorok said, walking closer towards Cynder.

Cynder began to shake, pacing backwards before bumping into Cyril. Her breath hardened, and she felt fear grip her like a vice, inescapable, and with the reek of death threatening to take her, causing tears to well up in her eyes and sweat to flood down her forehead, which was still drenched in shadowclaw blood. Shorok's gaze was like a magnet; she could not tear her own gaze away from it, no matter how much she wanted to look away. She was forced to stare into the hideous red eyes that shone out of the black, inky darkness of Shorok's sclerae and scales, and her blood went cold. Inhaling hoarsely, Cynder answered Shorok. "I've only heard the name before. I don't know what it is, and I don't know where it is."

"LIAR!" Shorok thundered fiercely, lunging forward and putting his tailblade up to Cynder's neck with incredible speed, causing the dragons surrounding Cynder to scatter.

Cyril, however, stood his ground, and wrapped a wing around Cynder. He could hear Cynder's petrified whimpers as she breathed heavily, her body trembling under the pressure of intense fear. "No, she's not a liar." Cyril said firmly. "I've known Cynder enough to know that she doesn't lie. She's done enough of that as the Terror of the Skies. She wouldn't continue to do so in her right mind."

"I thought Malefor would have taught you better than that, having the legacy that he did. But then again, his fall was easy and quick, showing that he was _weak_!" Shorok scowled, before letting out a low, gravelly chuckle that made Cynder's blood run cold. "But I believe you _do_ know. I can feel it. So, tell me, Cynder. _Where is the Sound Gem?_ "

"I don't know… where it is." Cynder whimpered, feeling the pressure of the tailblade against her neck increasing.

"Stop lying to me, Cynder." Shorok said, a sinister smile creeping up onto his lips as he dug his tailblade deep enough into her neck to cause a small amount of bleeding. "Tell me where the Sound Gem is. I'll give you one last chance before I cut out your throat."

"She doesn't know where it is, okay?! Let her go!" Cyril shouted.

"Don't order me around, you worm. I asked _her_ the question." Shorok thundered, spittle flying from his lips. "Tell me where the Sound Gem is! My patience is running short!"

"I'm sorry, Shorok, but she genuinely doesn't know." Shargran said sternly.

"You foolish old coot! You've only just met her, and you trust her enough to say that she 'genuinely' doesn't know?! You _know_ what she's done!" Shorok chuckled.

"Yes, I do. She saved the world. She broke free from Malefor's curse and destroyed him." Shargran replied, stepping forward.

"She was a murderer before that! One who killed in cold blood! One who killed because it was fun!" Shorok said, grinning evilly. "You can't trust someone like that."

"She's not like that anymore." Shargran retorted. "It's public knowledge now."

The smile disappeared eerily from Shorok's face. "You're right. She's not." he scowled. "But I am."

Quick as a flash, Cynder felt Shorok's cold tailblade leave her throat, and air rushed back into her windpipe. But before she knew it, Shargran had toppled to the ground, blood streaming from her throat in hideous amounts. She didn't even let out a scream, and Shorok moved with so much speed that it happened in almost the blink of an eye. Cyril let out a scream as Shargran fell dead, and leapt at Shorok. Shorok batted him away with the flat of his tailblade, sending him flying into the wall with a slam, knocking the ice guardian unconscious. Terrador released an earth missile at Shorok, but Shorok leapt into the shadows, dodging it, leaving the earth missile to bury itself into the neck of a shadowclaw standing behind him. But, as Cynder said, only a few veins around the throat were cut, and the ones around the back were still intact.

Shorok leapt out of his shadow and attacked Terrador, bringing his claws down in an X shape around Terrador's eyes. Terrador moved back quickly, dodging Shorok's jagged claws by a tiny fraction. The claws still managed to score a bit of flesh around the eyes, but Shorok didn't bury his claws deep enough into Terrador's skull to cut through his soft, delicate eyes. Shorok reared for another attack, and Cynder saw the chance. She leapt into her shadow and ran at top speed underneath Shorok, leaping up underneath him and knocking him over, throwing him to the floor with her horns.

The Shadow General scowled as he shook his head, struggling to his paws. "Shadowclaws! Get them!" Shorok growled.

With many deafening screeches, the Ice Castle was suddenly filled with shadowclaws. Cynder was immediately attacked by four shadowclaws. She felt her limbs cracking under the crushing weight of the shadowclaws, and she fought hard against them to try and stand back up, the vision of the mauled guard returning to her mind. With as much power as she could muster, she threw the shadowclaws off her and leapt into the air. A fifth shadowclaw leapt at her from behind, knocking her out of the air. Cynder slammed headfirst into the ground, and felt her jaw twisting unnaturally. Luckily for her, it didn't crack, and she immediately got the sense that a shadowclaw was going to leap at her, so she lifted up her head so the added pressure wouldn't break her jaw. She felt the weight of two shadowclaws landing on top of her as she lifted her head, and she looked backwards to see that one of them had Terrador's earth missile protruding out of its throat, glossy black blood flooding out of the wound. It reared its neck, and Cynder realised it was going to try and kill Cynder by plunging the other half of the earth missile into her neck. Cynder twisted and turned underneath the shadowclaws on top of her, and they fell to the ground as they lost their balance. Cynder leapt to her paws and grabbed a hold of the earth missile sticking out of the shadowclaw's neck. She yanked hard on it, pulling the clump of rock out of the shadowclaw's throat, as well as causing a flood of inky black blood. Holding the gore-streaked earth missile firm in her paws, she swung the missile around and brought it down on the rest of the shadowclaw's neck. She felt the earth missile hit the ground, and heard a sickening snap as the earth missile cut through the shadowclaw's neck, cutting the head clean off its shoulders.

Cynder growled as she attacked the other shadowclaw that had pinned her to the ground, swinging her tailblade swiftly through the air, cutting through the shadowclaw's neck and beheading it. Before the shadowclaw's head could hit the ground, Cynder released a powerful gust of wind, sending the disembodied head soaring into the chest of another shadowclaw that was creeping up behind Terrador. She heard Terrador thank her, but she didn't have time to reply as the third shadowclaw lunged at her. She lunged too, and the two dragons locked forepaws and stood on their hind legs, pushing with all their might to knock the other over. Cynder felt as if she was going to win, but suddenly felt her hind legs disappear from underneath her as the fourth shadowclaw swept its tail underneath Cynder's hind paws, knocking her over. Before the rest of her body could hit the floor, however, the shadowclaw picked Cynder up by the hind left paw, biting down hard. Cynder let out a shrill scream as the pain hit her like a mallet. She ripped her paw out from the shadowclaw's jaws, which hurt a lot, sending her own blood spraying everywhere as she heard the tearing of her own flesh, and stood on three paws, before lunging at the shadowclaw that had bitten her paw. She sunk her own fangs into the shadowclaw's neck, and when she fastened her teeth in enough, she yanked her head sideways and heard a loud crack as she broke the shadowclaw's neck. But it only swayed before it began to stagger forward, its head lolling at a crooked angle. Cynder swung her tailblade at the shadowclaw's throat, and sliced through the remainder of its neck, sending it falling to the ground dead.

Through the other two shadowclaws that begun to close in on her, she saw Shorok stalking towards Cyril's unconscious body. Cynder let out a strangled cry as immediately one of the shadowclaws threw her to the ground, pinning her by the throat. Her windpipe constricted, and her chest began to burn painfully. Suddenly, a guard, wounded very badly, lunged at the shadowclaw, knocking it off Cynder. Cynder drew in a hoarse breath as oxygen flooded her lungs. She got to her paws and stared at Cyril. "Go to him!" the guard shouted from behind her. "And use this!"

The guard threw a red gem at Cynder, and immediately, she picked it up in her wounded hind paw and screeched in pain as the cold crystal surface touched her burning wound in her mauled paw. But soon the pain was gone, and her paw was healed almost completely, leaving only scars. She turned back to say thanks to the guard, but he was tackled by the two shadowclaws she was fighting, as well as an extra one that he may have been fighting earlier. The guard must have guessed that she was about to turn back and help him, because he shouted out at her. "No! I'm fine! Go to Cyril! He needs you more than I do!" he insisted before letting out a cry of agony as there was a loud wet snap, followed by a spray of dark blood on the floor.

Cynder ran to where Cyril lay. He had just begun to gain consciousness, and immediately freaked out when he saw Shorok closing in on him. Cynder leapt onto Shorok, and almost effortlessly, he threw her off. Cynder landed with a thud on top of Cyril, and he roared in pain. Cynder quickly scrambled off Cyril, and Cyril sat up, groaning in pain. Cyril opened his mouth to speak, but instead, a scream tore from his jaws as his face was engulfed in shadow fire. Cynder let out a shriek of protest as this happened, but she was held back by a shadowclaw, just like when Spyro corrupted Drachen. The sense of déjà vu was terrible. Cynder saw bright flames appear in amongst the black fire as Cyril's bandage caught fire, and Cyril shouted in pain. When Shorok pulled back his attack, Cynder gasped at the state of Cyril's face. The large flesh wounds he had suffered in the attack on Warfang had been reopened, and were a mix of red, brown and black as his flesh burned and peeled in amongst the fire he had been exposed to. A few popped blood vessels were shown through his peeled flesh, and blood poured from them. The exposed flesh was raw and overly exposed, the scales that normally protected the flesh had been burned clean off the flesh, scattered in black, crusty scales around Cyril's body on the ground. Cyril's left eye was half open, and his sclera was bright red as some blood vessels inside his eye popped like the ones around his face. The bright blue iris stood out against the red, and the eye was watering like a fountain. Cynder's heart broke at the sight. Cyril inhaled weakly, speaking hoarsely. "What does this get you, huh, Shorok? No one here knows where your stupid Sound Gem is. This won't get you anywhere!" Cyril scowled, pausing to hiss air through his teeth as his tears began to drip down into his hot, bloody, burned flesh. "All this will be for nothing, because _no one_ knows where the item you're looking for is."

Shorok stared at Cyril for a moment before turning back and glaring at the fight scene before him. Two more guards had died, their blood spilling onto the ground, mingling with the black pools of blood that came from his own shadowclaw warriors. Terrador was wounded as well, as blood gushed from his wounds. He groaned with annoyance, before barking out a loud order. "Shadowclaws, we've wasted our time. Let's move out, and hope we find the Sound Gem somewhere else."

He turned back to Cyril as the shadowclaws began to retreat. "You'd better not be lying when you say you don't have it or you don't know where it is." Shorok threatened, his voice low and dangerous. "Because if you are lying, then you will be the _first_ one I kill, and trust me, it will be a beautiful display of bloody, gory fireworks."

Then Shorok left, and the three remaining guards, as well as Cynder, Cyril and Terrador, were left alone in the Ice Castle. "Now what?" Cynder asked, tears pricking her eyes as she scanned the bloody, terrible aftermath of the battle. "Especially for Jorgarath? So many are dead, including their leader."

"If her son's alive, then he's next in line. If not him, then his siblings. If not them, _their_ sons, and daughters. Basically, any one of Mistress Shargran's relatives." Cyril said, standing up, his legs shaking, hissing again as his face throbbed painfully, the wound from the siege on Warfang reopened, and worsened, thanks to Shorok's shadow fire attack. "At least one of those options should still be alive. We'd better go find one of them and tell them that Shargran's died."

* * *

 **Here you go, my first chapter that is over 5000 words! Not as proud of this action sequence as I am with some of the other ones, especially the climax of _Demonised_ , but it's still fairly good, considering this particular chapter was originally written back in November last year.**

 **So these shadowclaws now have a distinctive name, and Cynder's discovered their weakness. What do you think about it? Unique, interesting, or just downright crappy? I'd love your feedback on some of the new things I will begin to introduce, because I stepped out of my comfort zone a lot with this story, and spent a long time figuring out bits and pieces that make this story seem more realistic, with histories and world-building, and creature anatomies for the dark dragons Spyro's creating.**

 **Unfortunately, no reviews to respond to (been a while since I posted the last chapter so I'm not sure what's going on there), but as long as you're all enjoying the story, that's all that matters.**

 **Also, I'm still incredibly shocked that my other _Legend of Spyro_ fanfic, _Broken Perceptions_ , is still getting a whole crap-ton of views; it's at 42.8K views, and I'm really surprised the view-count is still growing at quite an exceptional rate. It's also on the second page in the archive when sorted by favourites (third page when the M-rated fanfics are included), and damn, I'm really impressed at that. If you haven't already, you should go check out _Broken Perceptions_ , because it's obvious by how it's going that people are enjoying it, so you might too.**

 **Finally, I have a poll on my profile page that is kind of important for the future of _Purple Legacy_ , so if you could all take a vote, it'd be really helpful.**

 **Anyway, see you all later! Bye!**


	16. Chapter 15: The White Isle

The next day came. Cynder had gone back to Warfang to recover from her wounds, as did Terrador. Despite his severe burn wound, Cyril had decided to stay to help find someone knew to lead Jorgarath, especially as he knew the place. The healers at Jorgarath had given him immediate attention, however, so at least he was still under care at Jorgarath. But since they had been away, so much had happened. Especially with Volteer. Upon returning, Terrador had found blood droplets in the Warfang Temple. He had gone to check on Volteer to see if he was alright, but Terrador found Volteer in his room, clawing at himself and drenched in his own blood from wounds he had inflicted on himself. Terrador was so confused. Volteer used to be so positive and optimistic. What had caused him to fall this far? He had a long way to fall, though, as he was almost never angry or upset. And he understood his grief. Volteer had lost her daughter, and Terrador had lost his mate and two children to Cynder's claws, but he couldn't remember him being so grief-stricken that he would be driven to self-harm. But Terrador guessed that since Volteer was so optimistic normally, he had fallen a long way, cracking under the emotional stress. But Volteer was beginning to scare Terrador, and he had to go and find Cynder to talk to her about it. Terrador had never felt this afraid in a long time. It had been ten years since he had felt this way; when Malefor had returned to the world a year after Spyro, Cynder and Sparx had gone missing.

Cynder had had nothing to say to Terrador. She had felt the depression and anger from Spyro's betrayal gripping her once again, and she was lower in her emotions than Terrador was. She had told him she'd wanted to be alone for a little while, and he had done just that. He was sitting alone in a large courtyard as hundreds of other dragons walked by, amongst the other dragons who were sitting around the courtyard. However, the other dragons sitting there all had someone else with them, and were engaged in conversations, oblivious to what had just happened in Jorgarath, as it had been about three days since the siege on Warfang, and everyone was spending quality time with each other to help heal, a luxury that Terrador didn't have, and neither did Volteer and Cynder. Even worse for Terrador, a few of the groups of dragons consisted of two dragons, male and female; dragons who were mates, or who were dating.

Terrador suddenly felt alone. No one to talk to, no one to be with. No family, like the few couples that were chatting happily away. Terrador felt tears prick his eyes at the painful memory of the death of his mate and his children, a son and a daughter, twins. The way their blood splattered violently on the floor, mingling with his own blood that had spilled from his own broken body, and there was nothing he could do to stop it except scream in protest. The horrid look on the face of the Terror of the Skies as she killed them, twirling a bloody, disembodied leg in her claws like it was a fiddle toy, a leg that belonged to his son. It pained Terrador to think of Cynder like that, especially now that her and Spyro's roles had taken a _complete_ reversal. And Cynder hated her life right now. Terrador's mind went back to the day he had blurted the fact out to Cynder, and the heavy emotions that came with it. His voice entered his head, replaying the things he had said to Cynder that day. He fought to shut his own voice out, before turning to his own thoughts, although they still lingered on the same problem of how he told Cynder she had killed his family. _That was not the way to let Cynder know she wasn't alone in her grief._ Terrador thought, tears pricking his eyes. _That was not the way I wanted to tell Cynder that she'd killed my family. I wanted it to be calm, and to tell her that and let her know that I forgave her. I wanted to make my forgiveness personal. Ignitus only made us agree to help her and forgive her because_ he _believed it was right and because_ he _said so, being the leader he was. He forced us to do it. But I've felt_ genuine _forgiveness for her now, but I never knew_ how _I wanted to say it. And then_ that _happened._

Terrador closed his eyes and wept silently, remembering everything that had happened in the past thirty-three days, and in the three years Spyro had been involved in the Dark War since Ignitus found him and Sparx in the swamp by pure luck. So much had changed since then. So much had happened. Both Spyro and Cynder had changed completely, becoming complete reversals of themselves. Cynder had gone from a savage murderer, and went through stages of anxiety, fear and shyness, to become the world's hero, only to once again fall victim to her anxiety and depression, but this time, causing self-harm to herself, and complete isolation. Spyro had gone from a timid, selfless young dragon who cared for everyone he met, saving Cynder from her corruption, and becoming the world's hero, like Cynder, especially after he put the world back together, only to become a corrupted shadow of himself, a murderer, like Cynder, and a dark ruler, like Malefor before him. So many dragons had died within the previous few days, and so many questions had been answered, most of the time, with more new questions. Nothing seemed certain anymore. Nothing was as certain as it was in the Dark War, even though it was a completely uncertain time. Things were much worse now. Terrador felt more vulnerable than ever. Although he had been affected in the Dark War, now he felt like a victim to everything that had, and will happen. Volteer had lost his daughter on the first siege, and had given into immense depression and grief, and Cyril had been severely wounded physically, his face marred, also from the first siege. Something had yet to happen to Terrador, and now, the guardians seemed even further apart than they had ever had. Terrador was not looking forward to what was to come, and the future was what terrified Terrador. He had always been hopeful during the Dark War that Spyro and Cynder would win and become victorious, believing in the future strongly, filled with hope. But, like many other dragons, the fact of losing the world's saviour to darkness was putting fear and anxiety into him, and the things that Spyro may do scared Terrador so much. He was scared to the point of tears, as his weeping became heavier as he dwelled on the thoughts of the future. He closed his eyes and shrunk in on himself as he wept, not wanting to expose himself any more than he had.

A voice startled Terrador from his thoughts. "Hey, Terrador. Are you alright?"

Terrador opened his eyes and looked up, and he saw that he was not in the courtyard anymore, but inside a large library. In front of him was a large teal dragon that glowed slightly, with a necklace hung around his neck and fabric wrapped around his body like the robes that the cheetahs wore. But the voice and face was oddly familiar. Terrador struggled to pick out the name, and, with a gasp of shock, he spoke out the name. "Ignitus?" Terrador croaked.

Ignitus nodded slowly, smiling warmly. At Ignitus' confirmation of who he was, Terrador broke down in tears, leaping at Ignitus and embracing him. Ignitus flinched as he was wrapped in Terrador's wings and felt his quaking body against his own. "Terrador, are you alright?" Ignitus asked. "In all my years, I've never seen you this upset, even as a youngling. Which is surprising, given how hard your early years were, with the death of your father, and your mother abandoning you."

"I missed you." Terrador wept. "I missed you so much. It's been… so, so hard. Trying to keep everything in check… trying to resolve conflict… it's so much harder without you! I thought you were dead! I thought you were _dead_! But you're _not_! Come back, Ignitus! Come back to us!"

"That's where you're wrong, Terrador. I _did_ die. The breath of life left my body that day, when I burned in the Belt of Fire. I died a death of immense agony, Terrador. I cannot forget the pain I felt." Ignitus replied in a soothing rasp, remembering his own cries as his body burned, becoming a bloody, black crisp of burning flesh inside the hot, unnatural flames of the Belt of Fire. "But the ancestors had something more for me before I moved on to be with them. When I woke up, I was in the White Isle, right here, next to the Chronicler. He passed his powers onto me before he wrote his name into the Book of Death and abandoned his spirit, and I took over his job as the Chronicler. I've heard your pleas, Terrador. I know what you're going through. I've been watching you in ways you cannot imagine. I even know your future."

"Did you know Spyro's?" Terrador croaked. "Why couldn't you have warned us? Why couldn't you have stopped this?!"

"It's not my job to interfere with the world's trials. Nor is it the ancestors' jobs. It wouldn't be life if we intervened all the time." Ignitus explained. "I am so, so sorry you've had to go through this. I'm so sorry I left you. But if I didn't, who knows what might have happened? Spyro and Cynder might not have made it past the Belt of Fire."

Terrador nodded slightly, and stiffened as he felt Ignitus' wings wrap around him, returning his embrace. They stayed in that position for a while, until Ignitus pulled away, leaving Terrador sitting pitifully in front of him, red-eyed and teary. "Come, Terrador. I want to show you something." Ignitus said after a while.

Terrador stood and followed Ignitus. The Chronicler walked down a hallway of large shelves filled with books, more books than Terrador had seen in his life. Books of different colours filled the shelves: Red, green, yellow, cyan, and even some oddly coloured ones like grey and dark blue. There was even one pink one. But as Terrador walked, he saw down the corridor a small shelf against a wall, with no more than five thousand purple books. _But it's only five thousand. There are millions of most of the other colours._ Terrador thought. _This shelf includes all of the purple dragons that have lived and died._

The earth guardian looked at each of the purple books. Each one had a large purple gem on the spine of them. One of the books contained a gem that was glowing, signifying life. There was a space on the left of the book, where another book should be located, but it was gone. As Terrador looked around the shelf, he saw that there were many missing. "You may notice there's a few books missing. I've taken some out to try and see if I can figure out what may be happening with Spyro, and ultimately, to figure out why he was corrupted." Ignitus said. "But I want to show you Spyro's book. I've known that this would happen for a while, and I want to show you some other concerns I have. I also want to show you Cynder's book. But I want you to keep all this to yourself."

"What? Why? Won't it help if I tell Cyril and Volteer about this? Cynder also, since some of Spyro's motives involve her?" Terrador asked.

"No. Not with the knowledge I'm about to give to you. _Especially_ not Cynder. Her life is something _she_ needs to work out herself. I will visit her in the future, as I will with Cyril and Volteer, but only _you_ can know this information." Ignitus explained sternly, almost as if he was scolding a child. "You can use this knowledge to try and figure things out and to resolve some things, but you _may not_ tell the others. I can't be any stricter about anything else apart from that, understand?"

"Um… yes." Terrador replied, hesitating. "But what happens if I _do_ say something?"

"There _will_ be consequences. Fate will rewrite itself, and you will have to live with the knowledge that you changed the future for the worst. And trust me, it _will_ be worse than it already is." Ignitus explained. "So I suggest you keep your mouth shut. Deal?"

Terrador looked down at his paws and hesitated. Then, he looked up at Ignitus, a serious look on his face as he nodded. "Deal."

Ignitus grabbed the purple book off the shelf and placed it in front of him, sitting down. He motioned next to him for Terrador to sit down next to him. Terrador sat down, and watched in awe as Ignitus turned through Spyro's book. His entire life so far had been recorded in images in the book. He saw Spyro hatching from his egg, surrounded by his adoptive family, Nina and Flash (in which Terrador had never met), and a baby Sparx huddling up against Flash in fear as the purple dragon egg cracked and shook, before the baby Spyro began to protrude from it. Terrador wondered how something so cute and innocent could turn into something so evil and malicious. There were a few images of Spyro playing with Sparx and his family or trying to learn about who he was, before Ignitus appeared in the book and Spyro was twelve.

Then, Spyro's book took a turn for the worst. Covered with violent, bloody images of Spyro killing apes, fighting and rescuing Cynder, and meeting the old Chronicler. Then Terrador saw something that made his heart sink. The first time Spyro became Dark Spyro in the Well of Souls during the Night of Eternal Darkness. _Poor Spyro. He's been dealing with that for eleven years. He let it take control of him._ Terrador thought, clenching his teeth. _He could have fought it, or told us. He could still be here. But… if he's had it that long… and Cynder was in the Well of Souls with him…_

Ignitus' voice broke through Terrador's thoughts. "I know what you're thinking. Cynder does know about it. But don't ask her about it. She'll be suspicious about how you knew. Cynder will tell you in her own time, but if she doesn't, then just leave the topic alone." he said.

Terrador sighed and looked back down at the book, watching as more images flicked past. Spyro meeting Hunter and reuniting with the guardians, Spyro mourning Ignitus and turning into Dark Spyro for a second time, Spyro and Cynder beating Malefor and putting the world back together, and images of the many peaceful moments (and depressing ones) that they had had over the past eight years.

Then, Ignitus stopped on one page, and Terrador widened his eyes at the sight of the page. The image was a large red splatter, signifying blood. It was the only image in the book so far that was in full colour. All the others were like sketches of ink on the parchment. But the colour gave the image so much more realism behind it, and it scared Terrador, even after Spyro had become the Dark Overlord. "I felt the same as you, Terrador. This image was the first ever image to ever appear in colour in this book. It has happened before, but it's incredibly rare, and colour images don't normally mean anything good." Ignitus said, his voice quivering, and Terrador knew he was not alone in his fear. "It was about four years ago when this picture appeared in this book."

"FOUR YEARS?!" Terrador shrieked, his baritone voice cracking under the pressure of his stress and shock. "You've known for _that long_?! Could you not have _warned_ us?!"

Ignitus took a deep breath as he looked up at Terrador, and Terrador saw the pain behind the teal eyes. "Yes. I have. But I had no idea what it meant." Ignitus said, his voice carrying more pain than Terrador had ever heard in his voice. "I expected something bad, but I never thought it would be this. I had two years to think about it until another image appeared in the book."

Ignitus turned the page, revealing an image of a bright purple egg, and behind it, sinister red eyes in a shadowy void. Terrador's heart broke as he realised what this was. "Is that…?" Terrador croaked.

"Yes. That egg belongs to Forzen." Ignitus rasped. "Again, I didn't know what it meant, but I was confused by the sight of another purple egg. I thought that it was surely too soon for another one, until I figured out that maybe it was Spyro's child. Spyro was the only one who had the purple dragon genes to pass on this early.

"Slowly, more and more disturbing images filled Spyro's book, but they were abstract, and I had no idea what it meant. I even contacted the previous Chronicler and asked him for his interpretation on it, and even _he_ couldn't piece the images together. But he knew one thing for sure, and that was that something dark was about to happen, with Spyro being the centre of it all, as nothing was appearing in Cynder's book, nor yours or the other guardians' books." Ignitus continued, continuing to flick through the pages of the book.

Terrador watched as the Chronicler turned through the pages of Spyro's book, dark, disturbing images of blood, corpses and darkness filling every page. Every single one of them was in colour, the colours getting more and more vibrant and lifelike until each image was almost a snapshot of reality. Then, Ignitus stopped, and the two pages that were left open were absolutely horrific. Each was a portrait, one of Cynder, one of Forzen, both covered in wounds, surrounded by corpses and gushing rivers of blood. Forzen was sobbing heavily, his cute little form red and bloodied as he wept, but Cynder was in a darker place, her jaws gaping in a soundless wail as tears flooded from her eyes. Ignitus took a deep, shuddering breath, and before Terrador knew it, his old friend was speaking again. "These pictures entered this book the very night Forzen was taken." he said quietly. "I've received nothing new in Spyro's book since then. Each day, a new page is added, but it is completely black, as if it was dipped entirely in ink. But I noticed that new things were being added more frequently in Cynder's book, which I'll show you."

Ignitus closed Spyro's book, and, as if by magic, a dark purple, almost black book came floating around the corner. Terrador assumed it was Cynder's book, and as Ignitus opened it, his assumption was proved correct. Her book was filled with dark images of murder and bloodlust, filled with Cynder's doings during her time as the Terror of the Skies, occasionally split with the image of Malefor or Gaul and her real form, smaller now as a child, cowering in front of them. Then Spyro came into her book, and each image was filled with redemption and scenes of her fighting alongside Spyro, with smiles on their faces as they knew each of them had each other's backs. How much that had changed. Each image then became more spaced out between time, until there was a large image that took up both pages open in front of them. It was Cynder, reaching out for Forzen as Spyro took the young purple hatchling away from his mother, never to be seen again. Like the ones in Spyro's book, this image was completely in colour, and seemed to portray reality in a somewhat spooky way due to how it was coloured. "This image appeared at exactly the same time the images of Cynder and Forzen appeared in Spyro's book." Ignitus explained.

He turned a few more pages, which showed dark, depressing images. Some of them were of Cynder, weeping, bloody and battered, and others were violent scenes of war. One of them included the siege on Jorgarath and showed Shorok in complete fullness. There was even a full page dedicated to Cyril's savage injuries. Terrador guessed that it was something that impacted Cynder. She had probably been shaken by the savage creatures Spyro had created, and the sadistic nature that they had, mirroring Malefor in every way, as did Spyro. Ignitus paused for a moment, hesitating as he rested a paw on the book.

"What I am about to show you, Terrador, is Cynder's future. It concerns me, and I think you need to know. You _must not_ tell Cynder about any of this, but I suggest that you help prepare her for what's to come." Ignitus explained. "Can I ask you to promise that you won't tell her?"

Terrador hesitated, before nodding. "Yes. I promise. I will not tell Cynder what I see."

Ignitus turned the page and revealed an image that took up both pages. The image contained a dragon, a fire dragon by the looks of it, who had three large, bronze, crown-like horns on his head that curved backwards slightly, and had a bronze chest, and back spines and a tailblade that were also bronze. The dragon sported bronze wing membranes, too, and had his wings spread in a majestic pose, seemingly as if he was going to ascend into the sky. The drake was surrounded by a lush green rainforest. The thing that stood out the most for Terrador were the vibrant purple eyes that the dragon possessed. "A fire dragon… with bronze features and purple eyes. Something's wrong about this." Terrador said.

"Maybe, but I think it could be important. I don't know what it means either, but that's one of my jobs as the Chronicler. To piece together everything that is written in these books and to make sure that things are recorded properly." Ignitus replied. "It could have a deeper meaning about it."

"About what, though?" Terrador asked. "I want to know who this dragon is, and why he's in Cynder's book."

"Like I said, Terrador, I don't know what it means _quite_ yet." Ignitus said. "I'm going to turn over to the next page now. There's two more of these."

"Everything I've seen is really confusing. If you're wanting me to help you, then you asked the wrong dragon." Terrador sighed. "But I do hope the next image is something a bit more helpful."

For a moment, Terrador thought he saw an image of a statue made of rock. But he looked again, and he realised that it was an actual dragon. It was light grey, and had viridian eyes and wing membranes. The posture of the body and the muscles in the dragon's legs gave Terrador the impression that this dragon was male. His horns were curved outwards as well as backwards, slightly similar to Cynder's, and his tailblade was the shape of that of a fan, with three large blades spiralling out of the tail into a deadly cone. Before Terrador could ask who this dragon was, Ignitus spoke up. "I've been doing some research about this one. This is, in fact, a wind dragon. They have been in hiding for a long time; they are _not_ extinct as we once thought they were. But I've been doing some research to try and figure some things out, and I've managed to find the book of this dragon. After delving into a bit more information, I discovered one huge fact. This dragon that has appeared in Cynder's book is her brother."

"Oh… oh my goodness. Are you serious? Her _brother_?" Terrador asked. "You've managed to track down her _family_?"

"Right you are, Terrador. I have. I cannot tell you their whereabouts. Nothing has appeared in any of their books for a long time. But my guess is that Cynder will see these dragons again, if her brother has appeared in her book." Ignitus replied.

"This… I… I have to try and track them down, to see if we have any records of their whereabouts. Their names! What are their names?" Terrador asked.

"I've only been able to get the name of Cynder's brother, and his name is Aerus." Ignitus replied.

Terrador sighed with relief, before the smile was wiped off his face. He saw something glistening in Ignitus' eyes, as if there was something the new Chronicler wasn't telling him. Terrador blinked and the glistening was gone from Ignitus' eyes as the Chronicler looked back down at the book, turning the page once more. Terrador gasped as he looked at the picture. A young purple dragon with a look of fear on his face, in a dark forest with dark silhouettes with glowing green eyes behind him. At first sight, Terrador thought it was Spyro, but everything that would normally have been golden on Spyro was silver, and the purple dragon had six horns around his head, three on each side. He recalled seeing a dragon like that earlier, and realised with a gasp who it could be. "Is that… Forzen?" Terrador asked Ignitus, just to be sure.

"Yes, it is. The little hatchling is still alive, but his future is unsure. I'm not sure what will happen to him, but under the clutches of Spyro, nothing can be sure, and we don't know that he will be safe." Ignitus rasped.

There was silence for a while, and ignites closed Cynder's book, pushing it away from him. Terrador looked at the teal dragon. "Why did you show this to me?" he asked.

"To prepare Cynder for her future. You can help her prepare for these things, Terrador, but I want you to be careful about what you tell her. She can't know any of this." Ignitus explained.

"Then why show me? What if I slip up?" Terrador asked.

"I need a bit of assistance now. I have a lot on my plate, and I want Cynder to be prepared. Her life will be hard, and I don't think she'll be able to handle it on her own. Prepare her, be there for her." Ignitus said. "I trust you. The ancestors do, too. We don't want to get involved all the time, Terrador, as I've already told you. But when the time is right, we think we should try and assist someone else to try and help others solve their problems, before getting involved. And that someone is you. We've put our trust in you that you can help Cynder solve her problems and to prepare her for these things. As well as plenty of heartbreak and death. It will be everywhere soon enough, and she needs a clear head. We think you could help Cynder. The other guardians, too, even. Especially Volteer.

"I know you can do this. There's a way to help your friends without saying any of this. Use the knowledge you have obtained, and try your best to avoid it. I know it's hard, but seriously, this would help us out a lot. Not just me or the ancestors, but Cynder and the other guardians."

Terrador nodded, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath, before exhaling. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the Chronicler in front of him, but he was back in the courtyard. Terrador stood up and sighed, unsure what to do. His own words echoed in his head. _What if I slip up? What happens if I_ do _say something?_

He hesitated, before he sighed and walked back to the Warfang Temple.

* * *

Green liquid rose up, spilling out of the hole in the ground. Green-coloured mist followed it, the heat from the acid melting through the rock, sending the green mist bellowing into the air. Two black scaled dragons watched on in awe as the acid continued to spill out of the ground, before solidifying into bones. There was a loud gurgling sound as the bubbling acid rose up in a bubble around the bones, rising up into the air and taking the joining bones with them, before three skeletons were created, their skulls barren, left without horns. There was a bright green flash as the acid exploded outwards, splattering around the walls of the room, as well as the two black dragons standing in it. The dark purple dragon standing in between them and the acid well was untouched by the seething acid. The three bodies were now visible, covered in muscle and organs. There was a deep, rumbling chuckle that emanated from the dark purple dragon's throat as his voice echoed throughout the room. "Rise." he commanded.

The three bodies all raised their heads, the soft squelching of flesh moving and cracking of bones resounding softly. The bodies stood motionlessly before another command was muttered. "Live."

A horrid squelching sound began echoing through the room as the hearts of each body began beating, very much visible with no skin or scales to cover the organs and muscles visible. The dark purple dragon stepped forward into the puddle of acid, unaffected by it, as he stopped in front of the three monstrosities he had created. The dragon lifted a claw and ran it down along the forehead of one of the bodies, the action instantly being mirrored onto the other two. Blood spurted from the wound that the dark dragon inflicted, dark green this time, as the dark dragon lashed his tail, signalling to smallest of the two black dragons.

Jumping at the action, the smaller black dragon turned around and grabbed a glowing green crystal, holding it carefully as it had been sitting in the seething acid. The dark purple dragon let out a growl, and the action was copied by the three creatures he had created, the sound raw in their throats as the bare flesh around their necks vibrated hideously. The black dragon was unnerved slightly, but didn't show it, as he stumbled forward, placing the crystal next to the dark dragon before stepping back to his spot beside the other black dragon. The dark purple dragon muttered under his breath as he picked up the green crystal and placed it inside the long, bloody cut he had left in the forehead of the creature. A green glow emanated from the creature as extra blood vessels ran from the crystal and throughout the rest of the body. The crystal materialised into the heads of the other two dragons and the green veins also appeared around them. Then horns began to protrude from their skulls, poking through their flesh and causing small spillages of dark green blood. The dark dragon smiled and stepped back, muttering, "Gain protection."

And with that, outer layers of skin and scales began to form, the scales black, like the shadowclaws, but instead, these scales had green stripes all over them. It wasn't long before the process was done, and three new dragons stood before them, staring at them with glowing green irises that shone eerily from their own black sclera. Acid dribbled down their lips as they snarled menacingly. The dark dragon smiled evilly and chuckled. "Perfect."

* * *

 **I'm uploading a bit more frequently because I'm having lots of bursts of writing, as I'm almost finished _Demonised_. Having been in the climax for so long, I didn't want to lose any flow between chapters, so I wanted to get them all done quickly. About to start the Epilogue, so thank goodness for that. It's been a long ride, but it's finally almost done. It'll be a bit of a break before I start Part 2, as since I will stop at a good spot, I can finally focus on a whole bunch of other stuff like school before I make a start on the Prologue of Part 2.**

 **But here's another 5000-word chapter for you, and at long last, Ignitus has made his debut in my fanfictions. Unfortunately I couldn't fit him into _Broken Perceptions_ , but he plays a much bigger role in _Demonised_ , and _Purple Legacy_ as a whole, and will continue to appear in later chapters. I hope I did him justice, so tell me how I went with Ignitus. And another thing with this chapter is that it was solely from Terrador's point of view, which is something I haven't tried yet. Out of the canon dragons from _Legend of Spyro_ , the only POVs I've explored is Spyro, Cynder and Volteer, so it was nice to play around with Terrador for a bit. How'd I go there as well? (also this was my fourth draft I changed so much in it so hopefully it was good enough for you)**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', I actually made the detail on Cyril's burn wound more graphic in my final draft; in my first draft it was no longer than the explanation of Cyril's wound from the siege on Warfang. I did it because it was always intended to be much worse than the original wound. As for Aaron, my guess is he would have most likely died in the siege of Warfang given how many dragons were killed. He barely made it out of the Dark Spyro situation in _Broken_ , which is pretty tame compared to having Spyro/Shorok rampaging through a city with a whole army of those damn shadowclaws, so I can safely say if Aaron ended up in this continuity of the _Legend of Spyro_ universe, he'd already be dead.**

 **To 'lord typhlosion', what makes Shorok your favourite character? I kind of wrote him to be a character that was sadistic and that not many people would come to like, so I'm interested to see your thought processes there lol. As for different species of dragons, these ones are kind of a mutation. The shadowclaws are derived from the long extinct species of shadow dragons that were a part of the 'dark family' of dragons, which became extinct long ago in the Age of Shadow. There may be more information on that soon, but I'm not exactly sure right now. And _Purple Legacy_ will involve a lot more themes around the ancient dragon races rather than other species, but I may still introduce some other species in.**

 **Anyway, thank you all for showing interest, and I'll try and get the next chapter up soon. After Chapter 16, there may be a long hiatus as I have other things to work on once I finish the Epilogue of _Demonised_ , so apologies if you want more frequent updates. But as the _Fazbear_ series is significantly smaller than this and I'm stepping away from _Demonised_ for a bit, if I have any spare time on my hands, I might try and continue writing _Bitten_ / _Fazbear_ Part 2, because I know I've been slack on updates for _Bitten_ (still only seven chapters in).**

 **Well, see you around, and thanks for the person who voted on the poll on my profile (I'm guessing it was 'Derick Lindsey'). If you haven't voted, please do so, because it's very important to the future of _Purple Legacy_. Bye!**


	17. Chapter 16: A New Job

The next day, Cynder had come to the guardians and told them that she had accepted their request to become the army general and supervisor. Almost immediately, Terrador and Volteer had taken her to see the training area, which was much more sophisticated and much, much larger than the public training centre in Warfang. _The one that Spyro destroyed._ Cynder thought, before pushing the thought out of her head so she could focus.

There were already a few dragons training in the room. Fighting against each other, and doing physical exercises like stretching and weightlifting. Only one or two of them stopped to look in Cynder's direction, but the rest of them continued training. The room went silent as Terrador called out, "Alright, attention, everyone!"

Every dragon's eyes turned towards Terrador, and then to Cynder, as they stopped what they were doing and the room was left in silence. "We've come to an agreement with Cynder. Given her past experience as a war army general, she will be taking over our role in supervising you." Terrador explained. "I know it may get a bit of getting used to, but Cynder wants to do some good, and we need time to focus on other matters."

"I heard stories that Cynder used to kill apes when they did something wrong." a muscular earth dragon piped up. "She won't do that to us, will she?"

"What the…?! Of course not!" Cynder exclaimed. "I had Malefor's corruption and dark thoughts controlling me. All I knew was torture and murder. There's no way I will continue to do that in my right mind!"

"Excuse Tyrax, Cynder. He normally says whatever comes to his mind immediately." Terrador whispered.

Cynder's gaze went from Terrador to the earth dragon who Terrador had called Tyrax. Tyrax was watching Cynder with a stare filled with nervousness, but there was something else in his gaze. But Cynder recognised that look from eight years ago. She used to see that look in Spyro's eyes all the time. _He's willing to fight for his friends if something bad happens._ Cynder thought. _But he thinks that something bad is me._

But before Cynder knew it, Terrador was speaking again. "Treat Cynder with respect, and give her some tips and guidelines on how we do things here. It may take a while for Cynder to get used to being here, but I believe that she will do well. And I'd hope that you'd do the same." Terrador ordered.

"Yes, Master Terrador." every dragon acknowledged.

"Alright, break up!" Terrador called, and each dragon dispersed and returned to their activities earlier.

Except for one dragon, who walked up to Cynder and Terrador. He was an electric dragon, thick-bodied and large, with bright yellow eyes and orange horns that shot out of his head in straight lines. He had a few scars over his right eye, and he was missing a few scales from his left forepaw, revealing bright pink flesh. "Good morning, Cynder. Master Terrador." he greeted, before turning to Cynder and introducing himself. "My name is Logron."

"Uh, hi?" Cynder said, feeling slightly awkward.

"I'm sorry if we made you feel uncomfortable. This place tends to have that effect sometimes." Logron said, shrugging.

"So, Cynder, Logron is like the second-in-command to us guardians. He takes control of everything around here while we're off doing other duties." Terrador explained. "He'll show you around the place. Now I've got to meet up with some other people regarding… recent matters, so I've got to go now, Cynder."

"O-o-okay." Cynder stammered.

"Alright. Bye, Master Terrador." Logron said as the earth guardian left.

Cynder watched as Terrador left. She returned to her senses when Logron spoke again. "Hey, Cynder. It's alright." he said. "I'll show you around. Follow me. And feel free to ask questions. You'll need to know your way around here."

And with that, Logron walked off, and Cynder hesitated slightly, before following the lightning dragon. A few dragons muttered greetings to Logron and Cynder, before going back to what they were doing. They walked down a pathway that was surrounded by training rings. "So here we have our training area. There's about ten rings here, with a few pathways in between so others can get past. This is where we do our practice bouts with other dragons." Logron explained.

"With other dragons? Don't you have any that allow you to create your enemy?" Cynder asked.

"We do, but they're in another room. The room you're in is our main training room, our physical training room." Logron said, before continuing forward and stopping in front of a few different tables and poles. "These are our strength-building areas. We normally do stretches here to loosen up our muscles before we go head-on into practice in the rings."

Logron continued walking, and Cynder followed, looking around her as she watched multiple dragons weightlifting and doing stretches in the designated strength-building area, before looking behind her again to watch some of the dragons fighting in the rings. There was a loud slam as a dragon fell to the ground hard, followed by a grunt as he tried to get up. Cynder looked back to Logron, a question pricking at her mind. "Are elements allowed in the rings here?" she asked.

"No. We've got yet another room for that. We don't want stray attacks shooting out and about. They could harm other dragons." Logron explained. "We've got about four rings in that room for element bouts, and two in the room with the magic abilities. The rings for the element bouts are slightly bigger so the dragons can move around more, and the magic rings are yet again even bigger, as they're fighting an enemy that may be much stronger than themselves. They will also sometimes be put up against three to five enemies as one time as well, so the rings _need_ to be much bigger."

"Oh. Okay." Cynder simply replied.

Logron stopped at the end of the room and opened a door, before pausing. Cynder stopped, staring at Logron, unsure why he was standing there holding the door. Logron tilted his head toward the open door, and Cynder suddenly realised with a jolt of embarrassment what he was doing. _He's opening the door for me._ Cynder thought. _No one really does that for me. Maybe they think I'm not 'feminine enough' and that I can do it myself. I guess I give people that impression…_

Cynder chuckled nervously, cringing, before walking through the door, hanging her head low. Logron followed her and closed the door behind him. "You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just nervous. I haven't done this in eleven years, and it wasn't a very pleasant experience." Cynder replied, shrugging.

"I'm not expecting you to be brutal and merciless. I'm asking you to be encouraging, yet strict. I'm sure you know how to do that." Logron said.

Cynder mumbled in agreement. "Shall I continue on?" Logron asked.

The dark purple dragoness looked up at Logron and nodded. Cynder then noticed that the room they were in was large. It split into three directions, four if you included the room they had just left. Logron gestured down the hallway ahead of them. "The briefing room and offices are down there. You won't really need to see them yet." he said. "Now come, we'll head to the elemental training room."

Logron turned right and walked down the hallway, opening the door for Cynder once again. Cynder nodded thanks to Logron, still feeling slightly awkward, but walked through anyway. Logron entered the room behind her and closed the door. Logron opened his mouth to begin talking as a heavy piece of rock shot at them. Cynder ducked as the rock soared over her head, shattering into clouds of dust and tiny pebbles as it hit the wall. "Sorry!" a voice called out.

Surprisingly, the voice was feminine. Cynder watched as an earth dragoness stepped down from a ring and walked towards her. Cynder wasn't expecting a female to be training here. "Surprised?" the dragoness asked.

Cynder didn't know what to say. Logron chuckled. "She's one of five females in the Warfang Army. Not including you, that is. We don't have a lot, but some dragonesses have fought hard to get their way into here, and they've served well. Don't take them too lightly. They're much like you, strong and stubborn, yet determined to do their best and to prove themselves." Logron explained. "This is Apata. She's probably the dragoness who's most like you, Cynder. I think you two will get along well."

"Nice to meet you, Cynder." Apata said.

Cynder nodded in acknowledgement and realised that Apata _was_ much like her, even in her physical build. She had a slender form, yet her back legs were quite muscular, and her forelegs were a bit thicker than those of most dragonesses. Apata's eyes were dark brown, and her horns were long and curved, curving backwards behind her head, before twisting back up again. Her wings were large, and her muzzle was pointed, like Cynder's, and at the end of her tail was a club instead of a tailblade, similar to what most earth dragons wielded.

Apata's voice cut through Cynder's thoughts. "Well, I'd better get back to training. Jupal's been waiting for the chance to fight me for a while, only for it to be interrupted. See you around, Cynder." Apata said, before turning and running back to her ring, where a stocky ice dragon was waiting for her, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Well, this is our elemental training room." Logron said. "We've got our four rings over there, and on the other side of the room we have a few smaller rings with dummies for testing. Normally we use those for new recruits to test their elemental powers before we go to other dragons, but on the occasion, we'll get more experienced warriors returning to these just to have a bout with the dummies."

Cynder nodded, and turned her eyes to the far ring where Apata was fighting the ice dragon that she had named Jupal. Cynder was slightly interested to see the bout. She watched as Apata made the first move, leaping at Jupal before diving under his legs, knocking the heavy ice dragon off balance. Apata flew up into the air, shooting a few earth missiles at Jupal. Jupal deflected a few as he tried to get up, but a missile hit him square in the chest, knocking the air out of him.

Cynder wanted to keep watching, but Logron was walking away, and Cynder turned to follow him. "You'll get a chance to watch some fights later, I promise." he said. "In fact, I want you to have a few fights with some of the dragons here so you get to know their strengths, and they get to know yours. It's always helpful having an ally that you understand fully. I guess that's how you and Spyro ended up getting to know each other so well."

Cynder winced at the mention of her corrupted ex-mate. "Eh… touchy subject. But yes, that was. Being chained together was the main reason for it though." Cynder said.

"Right, I know. Sorry for bringing it up." Logron said as they left the elements room. "But it's going to keep coming up. What's past is past, and you can't keep dwelling on that."

Cynder sighed. "I know." she replied.

"Anyway, inside here is our magic arena, where our magic rings lie. We only have two, and we're working to get more, but two have served us quite well for the past fifty years." Logron said as they entered the room.

Cynder gasped as she saw several dragons inside a ring, fighting against about five shadowclaws. An ice dragon stood outside the ring, ready to destroy the shadowclaws and to help out the warriors that would get downed. Cynder watched as a shadowclaw was thrown to the ground, and one of the dragons, a strong earth dragon, swiped furiously at the shadowclaw's neck, only to be thrown into the air as the shadowclaw lashed out with its hind legs, and another shadowclaw lunged at the earth dragon. The earth dragon was downed, and roared in pain as the shadowclaw's razor sharp claws dug savagely into the earth dragon's shoulders, disabling his forelegs. The shadowclaws then disappeared as the other dragon, a fire dragon, ran to the earth dragon's aid. The ice dragon walked towards the earth dragon and breathed ice onto the dragon's shoulders, cooling them down from the burning pain.

"Yeah, we're kind of struggling with these things. We're a little unsure of how many we need to throw into the ring at once." Logron said. "You've had two encounters with them. That may help with our judgement."

Cynder looked at Logron, and then back at the earth dragon as he was brought up into an upright position, sitting on his haunches, as he was given a few red gems. "Why didn't that work?" Cynder heard the earth dragon mutter between some heavy coughs. "I tore out its throat."

"I know why!" Cynder blurted out, and then suddenly felt awkward as all eyes in the room turned towards her.

Cynder shrunk away shyly, before Logron whispered to her. "Tell us. We need to know."

"The… the dragons…" Cynder started awkwardly, before clearing her throat and starting again, much more confident this time. "The shadowclaws have a crystal embedded into their chest next to their heart, surrounded by two ribcages. The crystal holds a power stronger than the shadowclaws' blood, and has extra veins coming out of it, connecting to the heart and to the brain. It's like a second heart. The heart could be punctured and a lot of blood could be lost, but the crystal provides the life source to keep it going, as the veins going into the brain keeps its body moving. A slit throat may cut a few veins, but there are veins all around the back of the neck, too. So basically, you need to destroy the crystal, or cut off the shadowclaws' heads so that it can't move its limbs, leaving the energy to seep out of the open veins exposed in the open wound."

And then Cynder went silent. Logron turned to her with a smile. "That's some really useful information you've got, Cynder." he said. "Sometime later, you need to tell everybody else all this. But for now, we need to get Strayut fixed up, and get some training going for you."

"Training?" the fire dragon asked. "Is she joining the army?"

"Yes. But she's becoming our new leader. The guardians have other stuff they have to attend to, and they can't be focusing too much on this." Logron explained.

The fire dragon nodded and turned to the wounded earth dragon named Strayut and helped him to all four paws. There was a look of pain on Strayut's face, and Cynder felt bad for him. The closed wounds had left huge scars.

Before she knew it, Logron had turned, ready to leave. Cynder quickly caught up to him. "Meet me in the elemental training room. I want to get everyone else in there so we can start those fights. I would like to have at least four or five before you leave." Logron explained.

Logron and Cynder left the magic room and they split up. Cynder walked into the elemental training room, standing in silence as she watched the dragons training. She looked over towards the ring that she had seen Apata enter earlier, and saw her walking out of the wing with a smile on her face, chatting to Jupal, the dragon she had been fighting with. They were both bruised and had bloody cuts on them, but they walked to the corner of the room grabbed a few red gems from a storage chest that was there, healing their wounds.

Before long, the door opened and Logron entered the room with lots of dragons behind him. Immediately, Logron started speaking. "So, as some of you may or may not already know, Cynder here is taking the role of being our general and advisor, giving the guardians some time to focus on other, more important matters that concern Warfang, as they need to focus more on those issues than the ones here. She has already had _some_ experience in this field of work, although the situation was _vastly_ different to this one." Logron addressed all the dragons. "I hope you all learn to treat her with respect and help her out when she needs it, as you would with me or the guardians.

"Now, the reason why you're all here is because I want to get some of you in the ring with Cynder. It's always good to know the strengths, and weaknesses, of your allies, and Cynder will need that knowledge, and you may need that knowledge of Cynder's strengths and weaknesses too. We will probably only have time for four or five, maybe a little more, before the day's over. Sound good?"

The dragons murmured in agreement. "I guess so." Cynder muttered quietly, though no one heard her.

"Alright, for now I want to get those in the ring with Cynder who are willing to, for the time being. We will go through everybody, but for the first few, I want volunteers." Logron added. "So, are there any volunteers?"

"I volunteer!" a female voice rang out, and Cynder recognised it to be Apata's as she walked through the crowd.

"Really, Apata?" Jupal asked from the crowd. "You were only just in the ring with me, are you sure you want to go _straight_ back in?"

"I'm sure. I guess I'm excited to have another female here – there's not that many of us. Maybe I'm also interested to see her fighting style." Apata said.

"Alright, anyone else?" Logron asked.

There was silence before another voice piped up. "I volunteer." Tyrax said, lifting his green head up to be seen.

"For your own information, Tyrax, you _can_ trust her. If this is only to see if you can beat her or not for your own personal needs, then your turn will have to wait." Logron retorted.

"I volunteer because I want to get to know her better." Tyrax argued.

"Alright, then." Logron said after hesitating. "Tyrax will be fighting Cynder. Any more volunteers?"

"I volunteer!" a younger voice called out.

Cynder turned and saw the dragon who had spoken. He was a young electric dragon, and couldn't have been any older than twenty. He had bright yellow eyes and his curved horns were a dark indigo colour. His horns shot out backwards from his head, before curving upwards, creating a deadly weapon. His left flank bore a small scar, and his forelegs were thin. "Alright, Blitz is in. Two more, and I might finish it off." Logron said.

Two voices called out at the same time. One belonged to a stocky fire dragon who looked like he had been serving for quite a while. He was probably in his hundreds, or nearing that age. The other belonged to another fire dragon. He was young, in his mid-twenties, like Cynder. She was slightly reminded of Pyron when she saw this dragon. "Vetar and Molron are in, and so am I. So let's get started." Logron said. "Apata will go first, Blitz will go second, Vetar is third, Molron is fourth, and Tyrax is fifth. I will go last. Get in the ring."

Cynder hesitated, before walking towards one of the rings. The dragons all moved to make way for her and Apata as they made their way to a ring. "Good luck, Cynder. You'll do well." Apata said quietly, bearing a friendly, yet competitive smirk. "But I won't hold back. And I hope you won't either."

Apata stepped into the ring and moved off into one of the far edges. Cynder followed suit, placing herself directly across from Apata. "Okay, so the rules are simple." Logron said. "You may use your elements on your opponent, and you may draw blood. Stop and hold back if you think it's appropriate, or if the opponent says so, and the winner is the dragon who can mimic a killing blow, whether it's a tailblade or their jaws to the throat or the chest, or whatever else it may be. Now, stay safe, give it your all, and let the best fighter win."

Cynder felt her heart beating heavily against her chest, and quite quickly, it became the only thing she could hear, the deep tones rumbling painfully in her ears. Time seemed to slow down for a while. Then, Logron's voice pierced through the deep sound of her heart beating, reverberating painfully in her ears.

"The battle will begin in three… two… one… FIGHT!"

* * *

 **Damn, this week has been so stressful. Probably one of the most stressful weeks of my life. Struggled a lot, felt really unmotivated to do a lot of things, but the week's over, things are getting better, and I'm feeling much happier than I was a few days ago.**

 **I managed to get _little_ bits of writing down where I could (really only for about ten to thirty minutes at a time), but I finished the Epilogue of _Demonised_ , as well as the Prologue for Part 2 of _Purple Legacy_ , so Part 2 is now officially underway, and another chapter is ready to upload, so here it is.**

 **Hopefully this came out well… I don't know much about army settings so I made a lot of it up, but hopefully I got _somewhat_ close? Even if I didn't, pretend that it's another culture, another world, another completely different species, so we can just say that the way the Warfang Army works in this case makes sense for this story. It was always going to be an important part to the _Purple Legacy_ series, but I struggled getting ideas around it and trying to get it looking right.**

 **...**

 **Onto reviews (going to split them up into separate sections with an ellipse between paragraphs (as double-enter doesn't work on Doc Manager) to make it easier to discern where another review response starts/ends).**

 **To 'Derick Lindsey', I agree that the Ignitus scene took its damn time, but I'm proud of it. I decided to expand on Cynder's character and end up giving her a brother (they _will_ meet at some point in the series), as it's a good theme for Cynder's character development in a lot of fanfics, as she doesn't have a family (Spyro doesn't have a draconic one either so it's good for him too, but really his dragonfly family is enough in most fanfics), but most of the fanfics that include this theme that I have read introduce Cynder's family in very, _very_ similar ways, so I tried my best to make it something different and unexpected. Not going to say if I've already written it or not, but I know exactly what I'm doing with it.**

 **As for the atheist comment, it makes sense but not really the effect I was trying to achieve. Again, probably poor explanation. The ancestors do care for every living dragon and want to try their best to help each and every one of them through life, but in terms of intervention, they don't want to try and control a dragon's life, as that is not their job. The ancestors have already lived their lives, and want to let every living dragon choose where their life will go, but will provide their help. What I'm getting at, is that if suffering comes along, dragons could easily ask the ancestors to take the suffering away, as they easily have the power to do so. There may be situations where they might intervene in a way that'll take it all away, but generally, they'll help them along, provide encouragement and love, and help them through their walk, because suffering is a part of life. Atheists still do exist in the Dragon Realms, mainly because they haven't tried to ask for help or have tried to block out the ancestors, or in some cases, they have blocked out the ancestors so much that their connection with them has been terminated. Hopefully I explained that one well and it sheds a bit more light on that topic. The ancestors will continue to show up in the series as well, especially due to one of the characters having a strong connection with them, but I'm not going to say who and when.**

 **Unfortunately, the 'rule' that you suggested is not a thing. If Spyro wants to corrupt Forzen too, he very well can, resulting in two corrupt purples. Again, not going to say if that will happen or not, but theoretically, it's possible. As you said, it'd be a pretty stupid rule too, and wouldn't make much sense.**

 **Also I didn't actually know you couldn't vote on polls as a guest (I never really looked at polls that much before I got my account, nor have I really seen that many), so I guess there's two votes for 'yes' on the short-story part. I've already got a few ideas planned for it.**

 **...**

 **Going off the final comment in responding to the review, Part 6 of _Purple Legacy_ involving the short-stories will be posted once the five main parts are finished. It's not necessary to read, so once you finish Part 5 you could probably finish there, but it's purpose is to expand on events during the _Purple Legacy_ series, as well as events beforehand (during the canon _Legend of Spyro_ lore or even before _that_ ) or afterwards. Got a few arcs planned, but I'm not going to say any more about it. I won't release much information about it now, but when Parts 3 and 4 come around, I'll give out a bit more information on what I'm planning with Part 6, as it'll be vastly different from Parts 1-5.**

 **Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed that chapter (sorry for a massive A/N, but that's why it's _all_ at the bottom nowadays instead of at the top), and I will see you sometime soon. Up next is training with Cynder and co.!**


	18. Chapter 17: Training

Immediately, Apata leapt at Cynder, swinging her large clubbed tail around to smash Cynder in the face. Cynder only just managed to duck out of the way from the club, before leaping backwards as Apata made another wide sweep with her club, aiming at her ankles this time. Apata then spread her wings wide, lifting herself into the air, staring down at Cynder. Cynder recomposed herself and dived into her shadow as Apata shot an earth missile at her. Feeling the heat of the battle, she began to feel adrenaline pump through her blood, muscles pumped and ready to fight. She ran around the ring, keeping watch on Apata through the shadows as the flying earth dragoness looked around frantically, trying to track her down. Then, Cynder flew out of her shadow from behind Apata, knocking her out of the air and tackling her.

The two dragonesses fell to the ground in a ball of limbs and scales. Cynder only just managed to move away from Apata's gnashing jaws as they tried to find something to bite down on. Feeling flustered and wanting to get away, Cynder fought her right forepaw free of Apata's claws, which were drawing small beads of blood, and flashed it upwards. Apata growled in pain as she threw Cynder off her, staggering to her paws in pain. Cynder gasped when she saw that she had left a long, bleeding gash that started half-way down Apata's neck, and ran all the way up to her left jawline. Apata shook her head vigorously, recomposing herself quickly, as she then shot four earth missiles at Cynder in rapid succession. The first hit Cynder in the chest, knocking her backwards as it shattered on impact. The second hit Cynder in the same spot, shattering again, but the added force knocking her to the ground. The last two soured over her head. Cynder saw Apata running towards her, and she hid in her shadow once again, running behind Apata, before leaping out of her shadow and blasting a huge gale of wind at Apata. The wind blast hit Apata in the back of the head, sending her neck shooting forwards from the force of it, before sending her tumbling forward onto her back. Apata scrambled to her paws and bared her teeth threateningly at Cynder, before taking to the air. Apata flew high and dropped when she was above Cynder, curling into a ball as she covered herself with hard rock. With a loud crash, she landed on top of Cynder, who groaned in pain as her left wing was dislocated from the weight of Apata and the heavy earth shield around her.

For a moment, everyone thought Apata had won, with Cynder being downed for a few seconds underneath Apata, but Apata felt Cynder shifting underneath her, and she toppled over as Cynder suddenly threw the earth dragoness violently off her. Cynder created a mini tornado and shot it at Apata, picking the earth dragoness up in the air and sending her spinning out of control. Cynder leapt at Apata, grabbing onto her as she was also pulled into the tornado. They fought savagely inside the gust of spinning air, attempting to bite and claw each other. Apata eventually managed to clamp her jaws onto Cynder's right shoulder, and Cynder winced as Apata drew blood. With a shock, she realised that Apata was pulling on her shoulder. The earth dragoness was trying to disable her right foreleg by taking off as much flesh as possible. Cynder scowled and brought her left claw down Apata's chest, leaving a gaping cut in Apata's flesh that bled profusely. Apata released Cynder's shoulder as she opened her jaws in a cry of pain. Cynder then threw her head forward, biting down on Apata's neck, tasting thick, metallic blood.

But Apata refused to be bested. She thrashed about furiously, lashing out with her forepaws as she grabbed a hold of Cynder's neck, pushing forwards with all her might. Cynder groaned and threw her head sideways, throwing Apata away and out of the massive tornado that she had summoned earlier. Cynder allowed the tornado to dissipate as she leapt out of the swirling wind and lunged at Apata. The earth dragoness quickly dodged as she reared and shot another earth missile at Cynder. This one didn't shatter as it dug itself into Cynder's right flank. Cynder fell to the ground, crying out in pain. Before she knew it, Apata was bringing her club down to place it against her neck (as earth dragons didn't have tailblades, but their clubs could very well snap a dragon's neck due to the hardness of it and the force an earth dragon could bring it down with), but Cynder wouldn't let Apata win. She raised her head and bit down hard on Apata's tail, before jerking her head sideways and throwing Apata off balance. Apata fell to the ground, and Cynder quickly put both her forepaws on her flanks to keep her on the ground, and placed her tailblade against her neck. They stayed like that for a few seconds before the win was given to Cynder.

Cynder removed her tailblade from Apata's neck and helped the earth dragoness to her paws. "Great job, Cynder." Apata panted. "I may have underestimated you."

"Well, I guess I have Malefor to thank for my power…" Cynder deadpanned.

"Yeah. You know, I never saw you as the Terror of the Skies. I heard about the name mentioned, but I never saw you." Apata said.

"Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to." Cynder replied darkly.

"Great job, you two. Go and grab some gems. Apata can rest now. Cynder will prepare herself for her next battle with Blitz." Logron said. "If you think you need some rest, Cynder, we'll give you a few minutes off before you return to the ring."

"I should be good." Cynder replied, walking over to the gem storage chest and taking out some red healing gems. "If I need a rest, I'll probably do it after the third or fourth match."

"Alright, we'll keep going then. Blitz, enter the ring. Get ready." Logron ordered, and the thin lightning dragon followed his orders, entering the ring, which still had a few blood splatters left over from Cynder and Apata's match.

After a while, Cynder re-entered the ring, most of her wounds completely gone, except the bite wound in her shoulder, which was nothing but a scar. Cynder took her spot across from Blitz and studied him. He was thinner than most of the dragons here, but she guessed he had a secret weapon that he was able to use to his advantage, but she wasn't too sure what it would be.

"Three… two… one… FIGHT!" Logron called, and the battle was on.

Cynder _tried_ to make the first move, but Blitz was too fast. _Way_ too fast. He ran at her with astonishing speed, jumping high into the air and taking to the sky. He raked his claws across the top of Cynder's head, causing blood to spill down her neck and onto her muzzle. Some went in her eyes, and she blinked furiously. Some went into her mouth, and she gagged before spitting the blood out of her maw. She turned around to try and follow Blitz, before feeling pain explode in her rear left leg. Blitz landed and ran back into his spot in front of her.

It wasn't long before Cynder realised that the secret weapon that Blitz had was speed. He may not be strong, but he was fast. Cynder tried to leap at him, but he sidestepped out of the way before she could get anywhere close to touching him. Cynder tried again, but he leapt out of the way. For a while, Cynder was trying without success to try and at least get one hit, but Blitz kept dodging her attacks. It looked as if they were doing some awkward, uncoordinated dance for a while. And then Blitz decided to attack. He leapt at Cynder, knocking her over as he put matching claw marks down either side of her face, before leaping away again. But this time, Cynder was prepared for the attack. She caught a leg in her jaws as he leapt away from her, and he fell to the ground with a crash, groaning in pain. Cynder stood to her paws and stalked towards Blitz, dropping his leg.

But that was a mistake. He was away in an instant. Cynder groaned in annoyance as Blitz scrambled to his paws and ran away from her, before leaping into the air, taking flight. Cynder looked up at Blitz, but her head was jolted downwards as a lightning bolt hit her square in the face. The electricity hit the blood that poured onto her face, and it stung profusely, causing Cynder to let out a pained shout. She recomposed herself, shaking her head vigorously, sending blood spraying everywhere as she did so. Cynder let out a yelp as she looked up again and saw Blitz diving towards her, and she dived into her shadow and ran off to a safe spot, before leaping out into the open again.

Cynder breathed another gale of wind at Blitz, who was now standing on the ground, but he dived out of the way, beginning to run around the ring to get to her. Cynder ran around the ring in the same direction, trying to stop Blitz from catching her, but he was faster, and gaining on her. Cynder then decided to stop moving, and released another gale of wind, but aimed in front of Blitz this time. By the time the forceful beam of wind had reached the distance Cynder had wanted it to, Blitz had skidded straight into it, trying to slow down but unable to stop in time. He was thrown into the air, in which Cynder saw her chance.

With a shout, Cynder leapt into the air towards Blitz, and grabbed hold of him, throwing him forcefully to the ground. She landed on top of him and placed her tailblade against Blitz's neck, but Blitz hadn't given up. He thrashed wildly under Cynder, throwing her off his body. He tried to attack her with another lightning bolt, but Cynder breathed black fire at him first, and he fell to the ground, his left side burned pretty badly. She advanced on him, and placed her tailblade against his neck, and, once again, Cynder was given the victory.

Again, the dark purple dragoness removed her tailblade from Blitz's neck, but before she could help him up, the nimble lightning dragon was already on his paws, although quite shaken from her black fire. "You did good, Cynder." Blitz said. "I wasn't expecting you to counterattack my speed so quickly."

"Yeah, well I have a quick mind." Cynder replied. "But you did catch me off guard, though. I'll congratulate you on that."

Blitz went to the red gem storage chest to heal up, but Cynder stayed in the ring. "You're not going to heal yourself?" Logron asked.

"No. It's only really the wound on my head and on my rear left leg. My leg injury isn't too bad, and while my head wound is a bit worse, I should still do fine with it." Cynder replied, shrugging.

"You sure?" Logron said.

"I'm sure. I don't want to waste red gems. I never have wanted to. I _only_ use them when I _need_ to, and Apata had done a good job on my shoulder, which is why I decided to heal up. But it's nothing too bad from the match just gone." Cynder insisted.

"Well, if that's the case, Vetar's up." Logron said. "Enter the ring, Vetar."

Cynder watched as the older fire dragon stepped into the ring, his expression stern and determined. Cynder would be lying if she said she wasn't unsettled by the strong, unwavering gaze in Vetar's eyes. But she couldn't blame him. He was possibly in his hundreds, and had probably been serving since his twenties or thirties like most of the dragons here, meaning that he had probably seen many battles in his life. Some of them possibly against her.

"Round three, Cynder." Vetar grumbled.

Cynder's heart rose in her chest as her assumption was proved correct. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths as her mind began to whirl out of control. _What happened in the fight? Did I do anything to him?_ Cynder thought, her mind taking control of everything. _He's got a lot of scars. Were some of them wounds I had caused? I suddenly don't want to do this. Why do I have to fight against him if I've probably already caused him world of hell? Why…?_

"…one… FIGHT!" Logron's sudden countdown pierced through her thoughts, catching her off guard.

Instantly, Cynder was notified of a burning sensation in her body. She let out a pained shout as she opened her eyes and saw nothing but fire and smoke. Vetar definitely wasn't holding back, and Cynder knew she needed to fight back, or she would lose, and she really didn't want to lose now. But Vetar's words kept coming to Cynder's mind, and she also didn't want to win. _No. I have to win._ she thought. _I'm doing this so I can help Warfang out for the greater good in the War of True Darkness. I_ must _do this._

Cynder growled as she turned her head forward, staring into the fire as she combatted the bright orange inferno with her black fire attack. The two raging infernos fought for a while until Vetar pushed more power behind his attack with a loud, determined roar, causing his attack to surge through Cynder's attack. A large explosion shook the ground as Cynder was knocked off her paws, sending her sprawling on the ground. The smoke cleared, and before Cynder knew it, Vetar was on top of her, raising his tailblade to end the match as quickly as he could. Cynder scowled and blew a gust of wind at Vetar's face, throwing him off balance as he stepped off her, allowing Cynder to escape from under the experienced fire dragon. She scrambled to her paws and leapt at the fire dragon, but Vetar countered quickly, rearing on his hind legs and putting his forepaws out to stop Cynder. He grasped Cynder's head in his forepaws, before slamming her head against the ground. Cynder rose with a black eye and more blood streaming down her face as her head wound from the previous battle opened more. She swung her tailblade around to strike him across the foreleg, but Vetar counterattacked with his own tailblade. For a while, Cynder and Vetar were having a swordfight with their tailblades before Vetar wrapped his tail around hers and yanked her tail forward, bringing Cynder's whole body with it. Immediately, Vetar swiped his claws across Cynder's cheek, and lunged for her throat, jaws open.

Cynder was prepared for the throat attack, however. She retreated into her shadows, running forward slightly before bursting out of the ground from underneath Vetar, digging her horns into Vetar's belly as he was sent flying into the air. She readjusted herself, grabbing her opponent as she then threw Vetar to the ground. She raised her tailblade to finish the job, but Vetar quickly scrambled to his paws and released another raging inferno. Cynder groaned in pain as she brought her wing around to shield the wounded side of her face.

Realising she had had enough, she leapt into the air, before diving on top of Vetar, claws outstretched and jaws wide open in a savage roar. He snarled, kicking out and throwing Cynder off him, before they both stood up and glared at each other. Vetar let out another growl, before he rushed towards Cynder with a loud roar, leaping into the air to slam himself down on top of Cynder. Cynder leapt out of the way, sending Vetar slamming face-first into the ground, before leaping on top of him. She raked her claws down his back, drawing quite a lot of blood, but Vetar threw Cynder off his back and turned his head, breathing another strong inferno at Cynder. She staggered backwards from the intense heat, and Vetar stood up, growling as he advanced slowly on Cynder. Suddenly, he cut his fire attack short and leapt at Cynder through the smoke, catching her unprepared. He aimed blow after blow at Cynder's face and chest, knocking the wind out of her as she was forced backwards, Vetar continuing to walk forward. Cynder attempted to lash out at Vetar, but he was prepared, and swept his tailblade around, catching both of Cynder's forelegs, putting large, bloody slits in them. Vetar then grabbed Cynder's head firmly in two forepaws and slammed it forcefully into the ground once. When Cynder rose her head from the ground, blood was dribbling slowly from her left nostril and bottom lip, and her forehead was stained red as the fresh blood from her match with Blitz was smeared across her face and into one of her eyes. Cynder blinked furiously, coughing and spitting up the blood that welled up in her mouth from her lip, before she felt another heavy blow across her chest, and she keeled over in pain, letting out a loud cry. She didn't have the guts to say 'stop', but she was in a bad spot, and she believed that Vetar may have bested her.

But she wouldn't say 'stop' without one last attempt to win. She lowered her head and brought it up into Vetar's chest, digging her horns securely into Vetar's chest as she lifted him off the ground with a strained roar. Then, she threw him to the ground and swiftly bit down around Vetar's neck, tasting his blood mingling with her blood on her tongue. After a while, Cynder was given the win, and she removed her jaws from Vetar's neck. They were both breathing heavily after the battle, and Cynder had only just made it through Vetar's onslaught of attacks. She was still disturbed by what he had said before the match, and she wanted to ask Vetar about it. _It can wait._ Cynder thought. _I need to finish this. Three matches to go. Then I can ask him._

"You should grab some gems, Cynder. You've lost a lot of blood." Vetar breathed.

"I know. Everything hurts." Cynder replied, blood spilling from her lips as she spoke. "Good job, though. You almost won."

"I'm just glad it was a supervised training match. In war, an enemy would not be so merciful to let one live." Vetar deadpanned and walked off as Cynder froze.

 _Was he talking about me, or Spyro and his dark dragons?_ Cynder thought, the possibility that he could have meant her making her breath heavy. _Did I almost kill him in the Dark War?_

"Cynder?" Logron's voice pierced through her thoughts, bringing her back to the real world. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Cynder replied, before pausing to cough up blood on the arena, before she recomposed herself.

She walked over to the red gem storage chest and healed herself, sighing with relief as her wounds healed and pain ceased. Her face still burned slightly from the heat of Vetar's fire, and her head wound healed enough to leave a scar, like the bite wound on her shoulder from her match with Apata, but she was ready for the next match. She requested a drink to wash her mouth out, and a young fire drake nearby quickly ran out and returned with a small bowl of fresh, icy water. She lapped it up, staining the water in the bowl red as blood flowed from her tongue into it, but she was content soon after as the blood was washed from her maw, before she walked back to the ring and nodded to Logron, telling him she was ready for her fourth match with Molron. Logron turned to the younger fire dragon and told him to enter the ring, which he did.

Cynder watched as Molron stood opposite her, and she could tell that the young fire dragon was nervous now that he was standing in a ring with her. "You alright?" Cynder asked, her voice steady and firm.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit nervous." Molron replied. "You really give a supervised match a different air to it, you know?"

Cynder scoffed. "I guess I have that effect on people." she muttered.

"Three… two… one… FIGHT!" Logron shouted.

The first thing Cynder did was dive into her shadow and run towards Molron. She leapt out of her shadow and slammed headfirst into the fire dragon's chest. Molron was unprepared for the attack. He let out a yelp of shock as he fell over. Cynder then leapt on top of Molron, raising her tailblade to end the match quickly, not wanting to have to put up with any more pain and bloodshed than she already had. She watched as Molron squirmed pitifully underneath her, and she lowered her tailblade to place it against his neck to end the match.

But then Molron did something unexpected. His body was suddenly engulfed in fire, and Cynder leapt off Molron, her paws burning painfully. Molron stood up, his legs quaking, as the fire around his body died away. "That was unexpected." Cynder said, shaking her left forepaw which had been charred slightly more than her other paws.

"That's something not many fire dragons can master." Molron said, his confidence slowly building up. "But it's something I've been able to do since I was seven."

"That's nice." Cynder said, before running towards Molron again.

This time, Molron was prepared. He opened his maw and breathed a huge stream of fire at Cynder, who leaped out of the way, still continuing on her course towards Molron. Molron then engulfed his body in fire before lunging at Cynder, his face contorted into a determined scowl. Cynder and Molron collided heavily. Molron aimed two huge swiped at Cynder's face, but Cynder dodged the both of them, before lowering her head and running her horns through Molron's chest in an upwards motion, causing blood to spray everywhere. Molron fell backwards, and the fire from around his body disappeared. When Cynder saw the smoke around Molron's body, she suddenly registered pain in the top of her head, realising that she had burned herself from Molron's fiery coating around his body.

Cynder was interrupted from her thoughts as Molron charged at her, leaping into the air before aiming a downward blow across her face. Cynder staggered backwards as pain erupted from her right eye as Molron's claws raked down the flesh around it. Blinking out blood, Cynder watched as Molron raised his claw for another attack. Cynder decided she would show Molron her own fire attack, breathing out scorching black fire as it engulfed Molron. Molron let out a loud cry as he staggered out of the black inferno, breathing heavily. Cynder closed her mouth and leapt at the discombobulated fire dragon, pinning him to the ground, before realising that he might cover his body in fire again. He didn't, and Cynder placed her tailblade against his neck.

"Cynder wins again!" Logron announced, and Cynder withdrew her tailblade.

"Nice win." Molron groaned, breathing heavily.

"Thanks." Cynder replied, as she helped Molron to his paws. "That was a good fight, Molron.'

Molron staggered slowly out of the ring, and Cynder breathed a sigh of relief. She only had two matches to go until she was finally done. Cynder watched as her next opponent, Tyrax, walked into the ring, a slightly arrogant look on his face. Cynder was shocked when Tyrax spoke as he stood across from Cynder. "I've noticed that you've only used shadow and wind in the last four matches, Cynder. Why aren't you using poison and fear?" Tyrax asked.

"Well… poison is incredibly lethal, and fear is… well… I don't want to put anyone through the experience I've put others through with my fear element. Trust me, I've even accidentally used it on Volteer once. He did not enjoy his experience at all; he was stuck in a fear coma for about twenty minutes, and I was forced to sit outside of the recovery room, hearing his loud screams." Cynder explained. "I _really_ don't want to end up using those elements on allies, and especially in a controlled environment."

"Cynder's right." Logron said. "When Volteer came to us later that day after the fear coma, he was very anxious and jumpy. I was confused as to why until he told me that Cynder had accidentally used a siren scream on him."

"I'm not scared of a little scream." Tyrax scoffed.

"It's more than 'a little scream', as you call it!" Cynder retorted.

"Well I don't want you to hold back. Use _all_ your elements on me." Tyrax said.

" _What?!_ Absolutely _no way_ will I do that! _Especially_ with poison!" Cynder cried, wondering if letting Tyrax fight her was a good idea.

"Fine then. Don't use your so called 'lethal' poison. But I want you to use your fear element on me, and when you do, _don't_ hold back." Tyrax ordered.

" _I'm_ the one giving orders here, Tyrax." Logron said in a dangerously low voice.

"No." Cynder said darkly, glaring menacingly at Tyrax. "I'll use it. But only so that he knows that my dark elements _aren't_ toys to be played with. Everyone here seemed to have underestimated me before all this, but I think it was mainly in my physical strength and abilities. And not anywhere _near_ as much as Tyrax is underestimating me now. I'll use my fear element, but don't blame me for what happens."

"Big deal. I'm sure I can break that four-time winning streak of yours." Tyrax spat.

"Tyrax! That is _not_ how we act around here. You've been told time and time again that an arrogant nature like that is not safe in a real battle, so we don't practise that kind of nature here." Logron scolded. "I guess this will prove to you the consequences being arrogant is. The use of the fear element is permitted for _this battle only_. Am I clear, Cynder?"

"Understood." Cynder said, staring darkly at Tyrax, who scoffed.

"Well, begin in three… two… one… FIGHT!" Logron counted.

Tyrax leapt at Cynder, who dodged the attack immediately. She flashed her claws across Tyrax's left flank, drawing quite a fair bit of blood. Tyrax growled in annoyance and released five earth shots in rapid succession. Cynder dodged the first three, but the fourth one hit her in the snout, and the fifth in the chest, the force of the impact causing the large pieces of rubble to shatter in a cloud of dust. Tyrax leapt out of the dust cloud and tackled Cynder to the ground, rearing his head and opening his jaws wide to bring them around Cynder's neck.

Cynder breathed black fire at Tyrax, engulfing his head in the burning hot flames, and he leapt off Cynder, crying out in pain and muttering in annoyance. He stepped back and released a few more earth shots, but Cynder dodged them. "Come on, Cynder! Where's that fear element you claim to use?!" Tyrax taunted.

"You really want to know, don't you?" Cynder groaned.

She opened her mouth and let out a shrill screech as visible red sound waves pulsed through the air. Cynder saw Tyrax's expression change from one of arrogance to pure terror immediately as the sound waves closed in on Tyrax. She immediately regretted admitting to his request of using her fear element, but she knew she couldn't have anyone trying to play with her dark elements if she was going to lead here.

Tyrax fell to the ground with a thud, shaking vigorously, pure terror painting his eyes. "Take him out of the ring!" Cynder called, and three stocky dragons rushed into the ring and moved Tyrax onto safe ground. "Step back! People have been known to attack nearby dragons when in a fear coma!"

The onlooking dragons stepped back to give Tyrax some space. Logron, however, prepared for the consequences, stepped close to Tyrax and sat down next to him, whispering comforting words to him. He seemed to want to reach out to stroke his shoulder comfortingly, but hesitated and pulled it back, knowing that might scare him even more. Cynder, still standing at the edge of the ring, noticed that Tyrax's breathing was getting faster and hoarser each breath. Small whimpers made their way out of Tyrax's throat, and Cynder prepared herself for what was to come, her heart beating savagely in her chest as she waited for the inevitable.

Tyrax screamed, long and loud.

It was torture to Cynder's ears to watch Tyrax as he screamed and writhed on the ground, clawing at the air and salivating. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Tyrax roared, tears streaming from his distressed brown eyes and spittle flying from his lips, his words slurred as the saliva bubbled in his mouth. "GO AWAY! PLEASE!"

 _I'm sorry._ Cynder thought sadly as Tyrax continued to lash out in fear, her heart breaking for him despite his previous attitude towards her.

She watched as some dragons turned to leave, concerned looks on their faces as they glared awkwardly at Cynder. "NO!" Logron bellowed, causing Cynder to jump. "Stay here. You all need to see this. If it goes on for any longer than twenty minutes, I'll call it quits and send him to the infirmary."

They all stood there for about five minutes while Tyrax screamed in utter fear. After those five minutes, his screams began to die out, and his body began to loosen up. Tyrax's breathing returned to normal, and the cloudiness left his eyes. He swallowed large gulps of saliva to get rid of the overflow of the fluids inside his mouth, and looked around frantically with fearful brown eyes, trying to figure out where he was. "Are you… are you alright?" Cynder asked quietly.

"Like _hell_ I'm alright!" Tyrax rasped, realising what had happened and looking up at Cynder with fear. "What _was_ that?"

"The reason why I didn't want to use my fear element." Cynder deadpanned. "You're lucky I didn't use poison. You'd be in a _much_ worse state now."

"What did you see?" a dragon piped up.

"My… my worst nightmare." Tyrax muttered, his voice shaky as he wiped the excess saliva off his lips. "A zombie apocalypse. I hate the thought of the undead. They were everywhere. And there was so… much… gore. It was everywhere. Blood, guts, intestines, brains, everything. It was _terrifying_."

"I'm so sorry I put you through that." Cynder apologised.

"Then why did you do it _anyway_?" Tyrax accused.

"Because _you_ _forced_ me to!" Cynder scowled. "And so that you know that my elements _aren't_ something to be toyed with and taken lightly. They are a _curse_ put on me by Malefor. I never _asked_ for them. I never _wanted_ those damn powers!"

Tyrax just stared at Cynder before looking away and nodding, shuddering from his terrifying experience. Logron looked up at Cynder, his face reddened slightly, from fear, Cynder guessed, after watching a close ally go down in utter fear. "I think… I think we'll postpone our match for tomorrow." Logron stammered. "We've had a lot of chaos just now, and it might be best if everyone rested up a bit."

"You're right. I think that will be best. Especially for Tyrax." Cynder replied quietly.

"Alright, everyone!" Logron called, standing up. "You get an early night off. If you want to stay here and leave at normal time, that's all fine with me, but you can go home now. But out of everyone, I want everyone who fought with Cynder to go home and have a rest. Especially Tyrax. Chat with her, maybe. Get to know her better, as you were of the first to interact with her. But what you all just witnessed is a lesson to everyone that Cynder's elements are _not_ toys to play with. They are _highly_ dangerous, _especially_ her poison element. If she must provoke her poison element, stay clear _at all costs_ , or it may cost you your life. Like Cynder said, her poison element is highly lethal. Even more so, I've _seen_ it. And the fear element makes you see things you never want to see. Tyrax was just lucky that he got the short end of it. I've seen victims of Cynder's fear element in a fear coma for three hours before, and it is not fun, let me tell you that much. Understood?"

There were many murmurs of agreement from the dragons in the room. "Alright, you can leave now. I would like those who fought with Cynder to catch up with her and maybe get to know her a little more." Logron ordered. "But if Tyrax feels out of it, he's free to retire for the night immediately."

"No. No, I'll go. I, uh… I don't want to get on Cynder's bad side." Tyrax groaned as he stood up.

"Uh, I won't be mad if you feel like you can't come with us." Cynder said as she walked down from the ring. "If you feel you need to go, then do so. I won't force anything else upon you for now."

"No. I'm coming. I feel like after what happened today that this might be my only chance to get to know you better." Tyrax insisted. "Now, I'll go wait for you guys outside."

And with that, Tyrax left the room. Cynder sighed sadly as she watched the unsettled warrior leave the room, his head hung low. "That went terribly." Cynder muttered to herself.

"At least you showed him what you're made of." Apata said from beside her, making her jump. "You showed us all what you're made of."

Cynder stammered wordlessly before replying, "Thanks, Apata."

"Now, are we leaving or what?" Blitz asked, walking up to Cynder and Apata, followed closely by Vetar and Molron.

"We should go out and grab some food, perhaps." Vetar suggested. "After all, I think Tyrax needs a little something in his belly."

"Yeah, he looked so scared that something may have come out his rear end!" Molron chuckled.

Cynder glared angrily at Molron, causing the young warrior to falter. "My elements are not something to joke about. Didn't what you just saw just prove that?" she scolded, before walking out of the room, followed by Vetar and Blitz. She called back over her shoulder as she left, though. "But in case you didn't see, and you _do_ still want that knowledge, something _did_."

Apata stayed behind to whack Molron in the back of the head with her club. "Now's not the time for your terrible jokes, Molron." Apata growled. "Now are we going, or what?"

With that, the earth dragoness whirled around and left with a huff. Molron groaned with annoyance as he followed her to catch up with the dragons that had already left.

* * *

 **Okay, so I got myself a beta-reader (thanks BirmanDragon!) so I'm hoping the occasional issues that have been coming up recently can be prevented much easier now. This chapter had a lot of problems actually, despite how good the chapter actually was, so I'm glad I managed to get my beta-reader in on this chapter because the issues it contained were pretty detrimental to how it read and played out.**

 **But aside from that, another nice and long chapter with a whole heap of nice action scenes. Really happy with Cynder's hesitation with Vetar, and the scene with Tyrax. Anyway, interested to know what you guys all think.**

 **…**

 **To Derick Lindsey, some intervention from the ancestors _will_ happen. And to be honest, it's really only been a few weeks since Spyro's corruption at this stage. The ancestors took down Malefor two years after he was resurrected (not sure if this has been said yet but it's not that big of a spoiler, but Malefor was resurrected a year after Spyro and Cynder were trapped in the Time Crystal at the end of _The Eternal Night_ ), so there's a pretty big time span there.**

 **As for Pyron, he has a _very_ big role in _Purple Legacy_ , mainly in Parts 1-3, so I haven't forgotten about him, nor have I forgotten about Freeze, Rubblerust and Electrika.**

 **…**

 **Well, that's it for now. Hope you all enjoyed, and Chapter 18 will probably be up soon as I wrote two chapters for Part 2 of _Purple Legacy_ over the past week. I also got back into writing for Part 2 of _Fazbear_ , meaning I can get more chapters uploaded for _Bitten_ (it's been much harder to write for _Fazbear_ than I originally thought when I decided to rewrite it, which is why it's so behind _Demonised_ ).**

 **Poll on my profile is still up, and will remain up until Part 2 or 3 most likely, before I'll find some way to get some more voting up (probably through Google Forms as it's the easiest one to use) in relation to the short-story part of the series.**

 **Goodbye people!**


	19. Chapter 18: What I've Done

A few moments later, Cynder and her beaten opponents found a nice place to eat, and they had all ordered their meals before they sat in silence, unsure what to say. Cynder felt like her presence had killed the normally bright mood that might accompany a lunch like this, after the recent event of Tyrax's fear coma. She looked across the table to Tyrax, who looked like he was in a worse place than her, tapping half-heartedly on the table with a claw and staring at it like it was the most interesting thing in the world around him. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked soothingly.

"Yeah. I'm… I'm still trying to get the vision out of my head." Tyrax said, his deep, gravelly voice hoarse and croaky. He cleared his throat and looked up at Cynder, and her heart sunk to see his eyes were still red and wet. "I know it sounds stupid, but I've always had a fear of the dead, that they would return to life and try to find a way to seek out their revenge on others. Those who killed them, those who hated them, those who teased them. I know it seems irrational, but… my brother used to tell me stupid stories about zombie dragons that would come after their murderers, bullies, and the like from their old life, and it scared me ever since. I've never been able to get myself free of that fear. Ever. No matter how hard I tried to, the damned images of those stories clung to me, and I've always hated myself for it. I'm a damned twenty-seven-year-old, and I can't even get childish fears out of my head!"

"It's not childish, Tyrax! _I_ had a similar fear upon my first year or two living here." Cynder replied. "I still… kind of do, I guess. Although I think it was because _I_ was the one doing the killing, and it was more about the families and friends of those I killed that would come after me."

"At least you know, now, Tyrax." Vetar said emotionlessly.

"Yeah." Tyrax croaked. "I'm sorry, Vetar."

"Am I… missing something?" Cynder asked, looking between the two drakes with confusion furrowing her brow. "Should I know something?"

"Oh, um… are you sure you want to know?" Vetar questioned. "I just want to be sure, because it involves you, and I know you're sensitive about…"

"Yes. I _need_ to know about these things." Cynder interrupted. "Over the past eight years, I've made it my goal to learn as much as I can about what I did, although I know I'll never learn everything."

"But why? Doesn't it just bring up bad memories?" Apata asked.

"Not really if I don't remember everything. I remember what I did, but not in specifics. It also helps me understand people's pain, and to see if there's anything I can do to help with it, and to see if there's anything I can do to make up for it. So if there's anything I've done to you, please, tell me now." Cynder said, before speaking again when she was answered with silence. "I know the time here might be depressing with all these grim stories, but it will make me so much better if I know. And I know that Logron said to get to know me, but you most likely already know every damn thing about me. What else is there to learn about my sad excuse for a life? It's pretty damn basic. I was stolen, I hatched, I was corrupted, leading me to murder; I was rescued and then helped save the world, before coming here, getting a little education. Getting together with Spyro, having the nightmares, followed by a son, and then for Spyro's betrayal and a few fights with him and his army, and _now_ what? All _this_?"

"Alright, we get it." Blitz said, trying to calm Cynder down.

Vetar nodded, before he hesitated, trying to find the right words, as well as trying to keep his emotions in as he thought back to his experience. "You may have noticed, Cynder, that before our battle, I said 'round three', am I right?" Vetar recalled, and Cynder nodded. "I have battled you twice before, both when you were the Terror of the Skies. The first time was when I was off duty for about a month, so I was having a little holiday with my family."

"I murdered them, didn't I?" Cynder interrupted, tears pricking her eyes as she immediately put the pieces together. Vetar simply nodded in response, and Cynder swallowed the huge lump in her throat. "Who… who were they? And how did I kill them?"

"My mate, a beautiful ice dragoness by the name of Fronen, was taken by a slit throat." Vetar recalled with a shuddering voice as he stared Cynder in the eye. "And… and my two daughters: Embarol, a fire dragoness, and Bronlin, an ice dragoness. Embarol was taken when she lost her heart, and Bronlin died of blood loss."

"How old were they?" Cynder questioned.

"Embarol was five, and Bronlin was two. Bronlin was a year younger than you. And… Fronen was… she was gravid." Vetar replied, before sniffling and choking on tears, trying to hold them in. "She was carrying our third child…"

There was a moment of silence as Vetar controlled himself, fighting against his tears as he grieved for his family. Once he had composed himself, he continued speaking. "I couldn't save them from you, Cynder. And I almost couldn't save myself that night." he explained, voice raw and croaky, eyes downcast, unable to meet Cynder's gaze. "I barely made it out alive, and I stayed there in Volkra, recovering for about two months, before I returned to Warfang. Even then, I was too weak to do anything, and had to take it slow to finish the recovering process. That took another week.

"But it was about three weeks after I was fully healed when you and the apes attacked Warfang. I fought so hard to try and avenge my family, but I made it out worse than before, reduced to a bloody pulp, captivated by my nightmares as you left me with a parting vision of horror." Vetar recalled, his gaze not moving from Cynder's. "I remember vividly what I saw; my family, Fronen, Embarol, Bronlin, and… and my… my _son_ … all blaming me for their deaths, beating me up and calling me a failure. My biggest fear was that I wasn't a good enough father, or a good enough mate, and that I was failing my family. And between their deaths and the fear coma, I believed it with all my heart. When I saw my son, I was filled with sadness, until he started blaming me and I felt fear. From an unborn _hatchling_! A dragon whose egg hadn't even been _laid_! I was stuck in the fear coma for two hours, and I was greeted by Logron, Tyrax, and a few other faces that I knew. Somehow, I had survived the siege, squirming on the ground fearing for my life."

"And I teased him." Tyrax interrupted.

Cynder's gaze flicked from Vetar to Tyrax quickly as her jaw dropped in shock. "You… you what?" Cynder asked.

"I didn't know! I didn't know how bad it was, or what was going on!" Tyrax blurted. "But I teased him nonetheless. I called him a wimp and a freak… and asked him if he was really cut out for this… 'violent experience'. I didn't know what it was like. So… I guess I deserved what I got earlier, you know? I finally understand, and I regret everything I said back then. I'm sorry. And I mean it this time. Not like that stupid, weak, _meaningless_ apology all those years ago."

"It's alright, Tyrax." Vetar said, before looking back to Cynder and finishing his story. "When we fought today, Cynder, I… I knew you were different. I knew of the stories, I'd heard of everything you'd done to aid in saving the world, and I'd heard of everything you tried to do to help others when they were in need. I knew you wouldn't try to kill me this time, but I couldn't get those damned… _bloody_ memories out of my head. I remembered the blood that flowed from Fronen's neck, I remembered the first heart I saw outside of another dragon's body, let alone the first dragon heart I _ever_ saw; Embarol's heart. And I remembered the bright cyan scales of by Bronlin, turned completely red by the huge amounts of lacerations on her body, including the missing left eye. I was taunted by their screams, and it was all I could think of. I was determined to win, to avenge my family, despite it being a controlled match. I knew I wouldn't kill you, despite the haunting sounds and images in my mind, but I still wanted to win, regardless."

Cynder smiled warmly at Vetar. "You did good, Vetar. And you were brave. I'd say your family would be proud of you. You went up against me again after I… I killed your family, and for a third time just now, putting those memories behind you to try and emerge victorious one final time. I may have won the match, but I'd say _you_ won in your own way. You had been through so much thanks to me, and you still put your all into the match until the very end." Cynder said. "Your family's watching over you, Vetar, and I know that they're watching you with a smile. You didn't fail them. _I_ did."

Vetar returned Cynder's smile. "Thank you." he said, before a small tear slipped down his cheek.

"Anyone else?" Cynder asked.

"Not really. My family were nomads. We moved around everywhere and were lucky enough to avoid your attacks. But my family was killed by the shadow apes during the three years you and Spyro were in the Time Crystal in the Well of Souls. I was the only one to make it out alive, and I figured that since I was eighteen I would join the army. I guess I wanted to make them proud and fight against the forces of darkness." Tyrax said.

"I'm the same." Apata said. "Although we lived in the underground earth dragon residence called Rahggen. There was no way anyone could have found us. No enemies made their way in. So we never saw a glimpse of the Terror of the Skies or the apes. We were safe. It was about two years after the Dark War when I decided to move to Warfang, and I'd always enjoyed training as a young dragoness, I decided that this would be a good option for me. Two years after the war; you would have been seventeen, and I would have been about twenty-one."

"Blitz? Molron?" Cynder asked.

"I'd prefer not to share…" Molron muttered.

"That's alright. In your own time. I'm not forcing anything from you. You don't even have to share it at all if you don't want to." Cynder said. "What about you, Blitz?"

" _I_ haven't… really had an encounter with you but… you did end up killing my brother and his son." Blitz said hesitantly.

"And… his mate?" Cynder asked, ready for the worst.

"Died of a heart attack five years prior to his death. Four years prior to the raid at the Dragon Temple. Her death wasn't your fault." Blitz said quickly.

Cynder breathed a sigh of relief, before her expression went grim again. "Please, tell me what happened." Cynder pleaded.

"Well… I don't know the details. My nephew was never found, but my brother…" he said, before pausing and shuddering. "He was missing his right eye, and had been mauled pretty badly. The death was definitely from the huge slit in his throat, but he had been reduced to a bloody pulp around the chest and limbs, and his eye socket bled profusely. He was even missing half of his tail. His yellow body was pretty much almost entirely red, leaving no sign of his natural yellow scales. But he died serving. And he died a hero. He was holding an unconscious hatchling, a fire dragoness, in his bloodied paws."

"Oh. Him." Cynder said sadly, closing her eyes.

"You remember him?" Blitz asked.

"Yeah. He's one of the few dragons I killed that I still remember vividly to this day. I'll never forget how well he fought. Like you said, he died a hero." Cynder recalled. "I remember how much spirit he had. He kept going, no matter what happened. I cut his eye out, and cut his tail in half, but he kept fighting. And that hatchling he held, he grabbed as he fell, trying to hide her from my sight. Because I remember seeing him reach out, but I never saw what he was trying to grab."

"Cynder, it's alright." Blitz said, and Cynder suddenly realised she was crying.

"Thanks, Blitz. And thank you too, Vetar. I needed to know." Cynder thanked.

"No problem." Vetar said.

"Now, let's talk about some more… happier topics." Apata said.

"Happy? _Happy_?! You _do_ know that a _war_ has just started? It won't be long until _nobody_ will know what that word means anymore, because the meaning _will not exist_! The Dragon Realms will be pulled into darkness and fear." Cynder scowled. "And don't say I'm overreacting, because I'm not. It will be _worse_ than the Dark War. Spyro is more powerful now than Malefor _ever_ was, and it won't be long before things take a turn for the w…"

Cynder immediately cut off as her head began spinning and her ears began ringing. She groaned in pain as she lowered her head and hissed air through her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to stop the pain. "Cynder? Cynder, what's wrong?" Molron asked, his eyes widening.

"It's… happening… again!" Cynder managed to blurt out, before her eyes snapped open and the world turned red.

 _They're coming!_

 _He's still searching!_

 _It won't be long before the Toxic Hour!_

 _He's found it! He knows where it is! He's coming for it!_

 _Slaves! They're taking us as_ slaves _!_

 _The darkness is coming, and there's a new creature coming with it!_

Cynder let out a pained roar as her headache immediately stopped and her vision returned to normal. Her breath was heavy, and she looked around as she received worried looks from all five of her companions. "What happened?" Tyrax asked.

"I… I don't know. It's only happened once before. I've been hearing voices. Voices of other dragons, I'm guessing. Last time I had that experience, it basically foreshadowed the fight we had at Jorgarath a few days ago." Cynder explained.

"Voices? What did they say?" Apata questioned.

"They were saying all sorts of things. Things like 'he's found it and he's coming for it', and 'the darkness is coming, and there's a new creature'. They also mentioned this 'Toxic Hour' and… slaves." Cynder replied.

"Slaves? Is Spyro taking dragons as slaves?" Molron asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

"That's my guess, but what is this 'Toxic Hour', and what has Spyro found?" Vetar said.

Cynder gasped. "The Sound Gem! He's been searching for it for the past few days! He must have found it!" Cynder exclaimed.

"But what is the Sound Gem, and what does Spyro want to use it for?" Apata questioned.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Blitz said. "We need to tell Logron and the guardians about this."

"But what about our food?" Tyrax complained.

"That doesn't matter now!" Cynder scowled, standing up. "This is more important!"

A shout suddenly roared out from nearby. "There's something wrong with Dark Peak!"

* * *

 **Big cliffhanger for you! How's that one? :D**

 **But I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Fairly short compared to the previous four or so chapters, but the next one is another 6K-word chapter so back to long action-y stuff. I also hope I created some interesting backstories, especially for Vetar (which continued over from last chapter).**

 **…**

 **To lord typhlosion, thanks for your review. It's always great to see people enjoying my work. To be honest, a lot of these things were never going to see the light of day because it was just for me, until I realised I was getting good and should actually do stuff with. The _Fazbear_ series is the oldest piece of work I still have and decided to post due to some interesting concepts I came up with (sorry about the wait on that one too – I know you've been reading _Bitten_ ), but my first fanfictions were a _Sonic the Hedgehog_ one from 2012 and a _Skylanders_ one that I spent a few years writing (2013 to 2015 I think), but I've long since gotten rid of them. I also had another _Legend of Spyro_ one before I wrote _Broken Perceptions_ , and I kind of wish I still had it (it was a three-part series, albeit fairly short ones). I might try and rewrite it someday as I still remember some _certain_ bits, but a lot of it will be incredibly different to my original version.**

 **As for the fights in the last chapter, I was pretty happy with Vetar's as well, and the only reason why his was the best one was because, unlike the other four that went up against Cynder, Vetar had actually already fought Cynder as the _Terror of the Skies_. _Twice_ , to add to that. However I do think Apata's was good too, and while Tyrax's one never finished, it was good to get rid of his arrogance and to get him to understand what happens in a fear coma. It was also a good way to introduce fear comas into the series (well, in all of my writing; I don't believe the fear element made much of my writing in _Broken Perceptions_ ).**

 **…**

 **Well, I'm off again. Got a lot of things I want to get done coming into the holidays now. My goal is to learn C# and to finish modelling Lefty in Blender, and I also have a few videos to edit for my YouTube channel (played and beat _Sonic CD_ in one sitting, and I even managed to start playing _The Joy of Creation: Story Mode_ , which is an _amazing_ game if you haven't already seen/played it).**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	20. Chapter 19: Toxic Hour

"WHAT?!" Cynder shouted as she ran out from the restaurant, gasping when she saw Dark Peak out on the horizon.

There was a deep, rumbling explosion as bright green orbs shot out of the top of Dark Peak, where the purple energy containing the shadowclaws would normally come from. They rose high in the sky and arched, turning and shooting down towards Warfang and the many other dragon cities and towns surrounding Dark Peak. They seemed to increase speed as they hurtled down towards their target, and unlike the dark missiles, Cynder couldn't make out any life forms inside.

Then she realised why. "THEY'RE MISSILES OF PURE POISON! FIND COVER!" she roared, and ran back to the restaurant, only to collide with someone that she knew all too well.

"Cynder! Get out of my way!" Electrika scowled, scrambling to her paws when she saw who had rammed into her.

Cynder looked up as everything around her glowed green and gasped. "MOVE!" she cried as she breathed a gust of wind at Electrika, sending her flying.

Cynder stood up and leapt out of the way, only just avoiding the poison missile as it hit the ground, sending bubbling green liquid spraying everywhere. "Don't touch me, you creep!" Electrika screamed.

"Well find someplace to take cover, or you'll be poisoned!" Cynder scowled.

"I'll _never_ listen to you, you murderer!" Electrika retorted.

"MOVE, YOU IDIOT!" Cynder screamed, her voice cracking as she leapt at Electrika, knocking her out of the way as another poison missile hit the ground.

"I said, don't _touch_ me!" Electrika repeated.

"I wouldn't have to if you would just _listen_ to me!" Cynder scowled.

"Well for your own information, I can take care of myself!" Electrika roared, lunging at Cynder, who dodged her attack.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Cynder shrieked. "This is _no_ time for a fight!"

"Well too bad!" Electrika spat. "And maybe I can kill you, right here, right now!"

Electrika lunged at Cynder, tackling her to the ground. Cynder struggled from underneath Electrika, but the electric dragoness held firm. Eventually, with a loud growl, Cynder kicked out with her back legs, kicking Electrika in the chest and knocking the yellow dragoness off her. Cynder rolled over onto her belly to get back onto her paws, but Electrika ran forward and clamped her jaws down around Cynder's tail, before she threw the dark purple dragoness around in a long arc. Cynder soared in the air, muttering curses under her breath, only to be downed by a large poison missile as it splattered everywhere, somehow missing Electrika. Cynder spluttered and gagged as she swallowed the foul poison, staggering about in the slippery liquid as she tried to get to her paws. While Cynder was immune to the effects of the poison, the taste was still extremely unsavoury, and she almost threw up, before she was downed by another heavy poison missile, getting even more venom in her mouth and down her gullet.

Cynder was suddenly aware of Electrika laughing behind her. She looked around to glare angrily at the nineteen-year-old lightning dragoness, before regretting the speed of the motion. She immediately threw her head down once more as she retched twice, throwing up violently into the already unsavoury puddle of venom that Cynder stood in. Electrika's loud cackles increased at the sight of Cynder relieving herself of her stomach fluids. Cynder growled, waiting for her stomach to finish churning. She looked back at Electrika, before shouting, "Look out!"

Electrika was already prepared as she leapt out of the way of the poison missile, which splashed everywhere, spraying all over Cynder once again. Cynder forced her mouth shut, stopping the venom from getting in, but it still sprayed all over her lips, and she had to force her salivary glands to produce enough saliva to coat her lips with it in an attempt to wash the venom off them.

Cynder stood up once she was satisfied that the venom was gone from her lips and shook her body, spraying the remaining green liquid on her body in every direction. "I guess…" Cynder croaked mainly to herself, her throat sore from vomiting. "I can thank Malefor for my poison element… It doesn't affect me!"

Electrika's face fell, and Cynder smirked. "You… you monster!" Electrika cried, her voice quivering as fear entered the heart of the youth. "You're going to use that to your advantage, a-a-and you're going to coat your paws in poison and then smear it all over me to kill me!"

"No, I wouldn't!" Cynder said, only to be sprayed by more poison as another missile exploded around her. "I'm not a monster, Electrika! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Really? I don't believe that you damn liar! You killed my parents!" Electrika scowled.

"And that wasn't her _damned_ fault!" a familiar voice roared, and Cynder turned to see Vetar standing out in the open.

"Vetar! Get back inside!" Cynder ordered.

"Not until this young dragoness does so herself! Get inside!" Vetar roared.

"You can't give me orders!" Electrika scowled.

"Insolent fool! I am a warrior of the Warfang Army, and I have told you once to get inside! Now get in here or I'll make you!" Vetar commanded firmly.

"FINE!" Electrika retorted, turning to walk into the restaurant, the nearest building that wasn't someone else's house.

As she walked past Cynder, she gave Cynder a menacing look before growling, "I'm not done with you. Remember that."

Cynder just watched as Electrika stormed inside the restaurant, with Vetar following her. He glanced back at Cynder as he walked inside, and Cynder knew what he wanted. He wanted her back inside as well. She wanted to get inside anyway, so she stepped out of the puddle of poison she was standing in and with a gasp, leapt sideways, narrowly missing another poison missile. She shook the huge gunky bits of poison off her, before absorbing the remaining gunk into her body, making sure she was clean and uncontaminated before she returned inside.

Apata ran up to Cynder upon the dark-coloured dragoness returning to the interior of the restaurant, breathing a sigh of relief. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Cynder smiled, nodding. She looked around, seeing the distressed faces staring at her. She felt the need to address them. "So, for the time being, we all need to stay inside. I'm guessing this will only go on for about an hour, and then we should be fine to return outside. No one leaves until the Toxic Hour is over." Cynder announced. "Do I make myself clear?"

There were a few murmurs of agreement. Cynder heard Electrika inhale to speak, only to have Vetar wrap his tail around her mouth, preventing her from speaking, causing her to mumble incoherently. She turned her head as she watched Vetar lean in close to the young dragoness, a snarl on his face, before he whispered in a low growl to her. Cynder could only just make out the low, whispered words. "If you say a word, I will slice your claws off, got it? I don't want to hear another word about your attempts to kill Cynder." he growled, before moving away and unwrapping his tail from Electrika's jaws. "Don't speak. At all. Nod if you understand."

Electrika nodded, her lips pursed in a thin line as she glared savagely at Vetar.

Every dragon stood in silence for about fifteen minutes as they watched the poison missiles hail down outside. Even the chefs had abandoned their tasks of making food. But really, no one was in the mood to eat. The only sound that was heard was the deep rumbling sounds of the impacts of the poison missiles, and the occasional rustling sound of scales moving against cobblestone as dragons pawed anxiously at the ground or adjusted their sitting positions.

Then, there was a loud slamming sound, followed by a scream. Cynder's attention was drawn to it immediately, as did Tyrax's and Blitz's. Vetar was too content on keeping Electrika in control, and Apata and Molron were helping calm down some elderly dragons in their six-hundreds. "Come with me." Cynder said to Tyrax and Blitz. "Be very careful. We don't know what this could be."

"There's… there's…!" a she-cheetah cried, standing in the middle of the kitchen area where several other cheetahs, moles and dragons stood, frozen in shock. She had shrunk in on herself, shaking heavily as her paws were raised to her chest, and her tail was tucked in between her legs in a sign of fear.

"What is it?" Cynder asked.

"It… It was… I… I-I-I don't know. I only s-s-saw eyes. They were completely black with green irises!" the she-cheetah whimpered, before she pointed towards where the sound had come from.

"Sounds like the eyes of the shadowclaws, except green." Cynder said. "It could be another member of Spyro's army. If so, we need to be careful."

Cynder, Tyrax and Blitz stalked toward the door in which had been slammed. It was a storage closet. Probably containing food items and ingredients. Cynder raised a paw and pushed the door open. She braced herself, ready for something to leap out at her. There was nothing.

Cynder looked nervously at Tyrax and Blitz, and held her breath as she looked back into the closet to step carefully inside. She took a few steps in, until the room was illuminated with green light as two eyes opened, revealing eerie green rings of light. Cynder stepped back, bracing herself, as, with a loud screech, Cynder was tackled to the ground.

Razor sharp claws dug into Cynder's shoulders and hot breath thundered in her face as a set of gnashing jaws snapped mere centimetres away from Cynder's snout. Cynder attempted to keep the jaws away from her face with her forepaws. She kicked out with her hind legs, throwing her attacker into the air, before she stood up and shuffled backwards, returning into the open kitchen, waiting for her attacker to lunge out at her.

Suddenly, green gunk shot out of the closet, hitting Cynder square in the chest as her attacker launched itself out of the closet. Cynder gasped at what she saw. A black dragon with bright green stripes painted on the dragon's scales, and it had just used a poison attack on her. "It's a poison dragon!" Cynder shouted. "Everyone get back! Let me deal with this!"

Not pausing to make sure everyone had obeyed her, Cynder launched herself at the poison dragon, tackling it to the ground. She clawed wildly at the poison dragon's chest, trying to open up a cavity she could shove her tailblade into, for the scaly hide of the poison dragon was significantly thicker than that of a shadowclaw, so a lot of hacking and bloodshed was obviously involved. Cynder was suddenly flung into the air as the poison dragon kicked out with its hind legs, before immediately getting to its paws and leaping on top of Cynder, thrusting its tailblade into her stomach and swiping at her chest. Cynder fought to get out from under the poison dragon, but she was hit in the face by another glob of poison. With a pained grunt, she lashed out savagely, sending the poison dragon soaring into the air and landing onto a work station, sending food, pans and plates falling onto the floor, the fragile items shattering. Cynder stood up, wiping her eyes as they burned painfully. She may have been immune to the toxins inside the poisonous attacks, but if it hit her somewhere painful, like in the eyes, in still stung. And right now, her eyes burned savagely, and her vision went blurry.

She swung her tailblade around, narrowly missing the poison dragon as it lay on the work bench, knocking another collection of pots and pans onto the ground, causing them to clatter noisily on the ground. The poison dragon recomposed itself as it rolled clumsily off the work bench, running around the bench and leaping at Cynder. Cynder was prepared this time and lashed out with her claws, digging her claws savagely into its left eye socket, feeling her way around the eyeball before yanking it out with a loud, wet ripping sound as the optic nerve was decimated. Dark green blood spilled out of the orifice like a river as the black eyeball rolled along the floor, leaving a trail of the oddly coloured blood. The poison dragon screeched in pain and rose onto its hind legs, spreading its wings out threateningly as venom dripped from its jaws in a way similar to saliva. Cynder breathed black fire at the dragon, aiming down its throat, causing the poison dragon took a mouthful of scorching hot flames. It fell to the ground, screeching and spluttering in pain as smoke bellowed from its maw and nostrils.

Cynder swung her tailblade yet again, cutting open the top of the poison dragon's head. It squealed in pain as a torrent of dark green blood sprayed from the wound, and small amounts of bright green mist escaped from the wound. Cynder remembered seeing mist similar to this a few days ago, and she knew what she had to do. With a savage growl, she hacked her way through the poison dragon's head, cutting her way down into its skull as it shrieked in agony, unable to defend itself as pain seized its form. The flesh around its forehead was completely decimated, spilling insane amounts of blood and sending bellowing clouds of mist into the air. Cynder swung her tailblade around one final time, taking off a huge slice of meat with a loud shattering sound. Shards of green crystal flew everywhere, and the light faded from the poison dragon's eyes before it lay before Cynder, dead, its head covered in a green, bloody pulp, chunks of the dark green flesh lying in every which way in the kitchen.

"The crystal's in its head this time." Cynder said. "Which changes everything."

"Is it dead?" a mole asked from behind a large ice dragoness, who was also hiding behind one of the workbenches on the opposite side of the kitchen.

"Yes. It's dead." Cynder confirmed.

"What was that?" a fire dragon asked.

"A poison dragon, probably a new member of Spyro's Dark Army." Cynder explained. "Chances are, it has another name, like the shadowclaws, but until we learn of it, it's just simply a poison dragon."

"So… we're safe?" the she-cheetah from earlier questioned, her voice still quaking with fear at the sight of what had scared her earlier, as well as the amount of gore that was spilling everywhere.

"In theory, yes. You'd need to re-stock your pantry completely, as the poison dragon would have most likely contaminated the food in there, and everything at this work station will need to be cleaned thoroughly or replaced." Cynder said. "The blood is toxin-free but contains other unpleasantries, so you should be careful around the gore as well."

"You said 'in theory'." Blitz said. "What do you mean by that?"

"That can't have been the only one." Cynder replied, turning to Tyrax and Blitz, who stared at the poison dragon corpse with horror. "Don't you see? If there's one, many more will be out there somewhere! And surely the Toxic Hour can't just be the poison rain! It's got to include the poison dragons too!"

"But what's the point of the poison rain?" Tyrax asked.

Cynder widened her eyes as a terrifying thought struck her. "I don't know if this is true, but since I can absorb poison, the poison dragons might have the same ability. My guess is it makes them stronger!" Cynder said with shock. "We need to warn the others!"

"We need to find Logron and tell him!" Tyrax exclaimed.

Cynder nodded vigorously, before she ran out into the dining room again, receiving shocked faces from everyone. "Vetar, Molron, Apata! We're leaving!" Cynder shouted, as Tyrax and Blitz ran up behind her. " _Now_! I'll explain on the way!"

Cynder ran outside, with her five companions following her. She then heard another voice, and she groaned in annoyance. "I'm coming with you! There's no way I'm letting you out of my sight!" Electrika shouted, catching up with them.

" _Get back inside!_ " Cynder screamed.

"Never!" Electrika scowled.

Cynder let out a scream as she breathed a gust of wind at Electrika's left side, sending her toppling over to her right, as a poison dragon leaped out from behind where Electrika was, its claws landing on nothing but cobblestones. Cynder let out a roar as she ran towards the poison dragon, hacking savagely at its throat with her tailblade until its head came off its neck, rolling pitifully on the ground, torrents of dark green blood spilling from both ends of its neck. Cynder looked down at Electrika and growled. Electrika was unsure what to make of the moment. Both she and Cynder had been splattered in huge, unpleasant amounts of the dark green blood that belonged to the poison dragon, and she did not like it one bit. Nor did she like the look on Cynder's face. "Get back inside _now_!" Cynder ordered menacingly, and, hesitantly, Electrika complied, as she stood to her paws and walked back inside the restaurant.

"Where do we go now?" Vetar asked.

"Back to the barracks." Cynder said, her menace from before suddenly non-existent. "Logron said some dragons would be free to stay and continue training. If anything, the dragons there would know where Logron went if he's already left. If he's still there from earlier, then lucky for us. We need to inform the dragons there of the poison dragons and fast."

"Alright. Let's go." Apata said.

"And be careful!" Cynder added. "These dragons are _much_ more lethal than the shadowclaws. Their poison could kill you in a matter of minutes."

With that, Cynder and her companions ran as fast as they could towards the barracks, still dodging the occasional poison missile that fell from the sky. They had become much less frequent, the range of the poison missiles moving in an arc towards other cities. They all knew that the other cities would have to fight on their own for now as Warfang was in as much trouble as the rest of the cities – they couldn't send any reinforcements for other cities right now.

Suddenly, Apata let out a shriek of terror as a poison dragon leapt at her, tackling her to the ground as its jaws dripped with venom, maw wide open, exposing its dark throat and wet green tongue. It hissed loudly, before letting out a deep growl, its throat vibrating with the force of the growl, sending flecks of spittle splattering onto Apata. Cynder was about to leap at the poison dragon, but Blitz was quicker. He tackled the poison dragon to the ground and brought his tailblade down with immense force on the poison dragon's neck, sending dark green blood spraying all over his yellow scales. He rose his tailblade, before bringing it down once again. He repeated a third time, and on the fourth time, the poison dragon's head was separated from its body with a spray of green gore.

Blitz helped Apata to her paws, and Molron yelped as he was sprayed with poison, another poison missile landing on the ground a few metres away from them, but the poison spray only managed to get Molron. Molron fell to the ground clutching his eye as a horrid sizzling sound came from his body. Cynder ran to Molron and watched with horror as his eye began to decompose, becoming grey as it began to wither, red blood slowly seeping out from around his eye socket. Molron tried to scream in pain, but it came out as a gurgle as pink foam began to form around his mouth. "I won't let you die now!" Cynder scowled, placing both her paws around the infected eye, focusing on her poison element.

She called the poison inside Molron's body to the surface of his flesh, before feeling the poison enter her body. She winced with pain, before her body absorbed it and the poison was gone. Cynder removed her paws and her heart sank. Molron's eye was greyed around the edges, almost black where the eye met the eye socket, and whatever wasn't grey or black was pink or bright red, almost all the blood vessels in the eye popped from the immense swelling caused by the poison. The flesh around the eye was also swollen quite a fair bit. His gaze was cloudy and his breathing was jagged and sharp, his head shaking, from both fear and periodic shock from the poison that had entered it. In this state, there was no way Molron was going to make it to the barracks. They'd barely been running for a whole minute before this chaos. Even worse, she wasn't even sure if he'd regain his eyesight or not; the eye looked pretty badly damaged, even more so than Cyril's, as the poison had been in Molron's eye long enough for a lot of the important parts of it to corrode – it was not a mere burn wound in this case. "Apata, take him somewhere safe. The restaurant, someone's house, wherever. I don't care. And if you have access to red gems, use them on his eye _immediately_." Cynder ordered.

"Yes, Cynder. Molron, can you get up?" Apata said.

Molron groaned painfully as he tried to get to his paws, but fell to the ground, his energy wasted from trying to fight the poison. Apata walked to Molron and helped him up, allowing the young fire dragon to rest on her as they walked off, blood and gunk dripping down his face from his eye in a hideous sight. Molron was lucky Cynder got to his aid as quick as she did. Otherwise the poison would've spread to the rest of his body and disabled his legs, or some other part of his body. And after that, it would have undoubtedly killed him.

Cynder ignored the grim thought as she turned. "Come on. let's go." she said, and turned to continue running to the barracks.

Again, another minute had passed before they were ambushed by four poison dragons in a large courtyard. "Tyrax, you take the dragon near the library. Vetar, take the dragon in the direction we want to go. Blitz will take the dragon coming from the orphanage, and I'll take the one standing on the fountain." Cynder said, before leaping at her designated poison dragon.

The other warriors did the same. Tyrax had managed to dig his claws into the poison dragon's flanks, fighting hard to try and bring it to the ground, but the poison dragon was much stronger. It was stockier than normal, and with a growl, it swung its body around swiftly, causing Tyrax to lose grip on his target and sending him soaring into the front wall of the Warfang Library. Tyrax had also managed to take a fair bit of flesh with him as well, and dark green blood welled from the poison dragon's flanks. The poison dragon in mention let out a loud roar, which came out sounding like a deafening gurgle as its throat convulsed savagely inside its mouth, before a huge glob of poison shot out of the orifice. Tyrax let out a shout as he leapt out of the way, the poison hitting the wall behind him, and the resulting splatter only just missing him as he rolled on the ground, his heart beating heavily in his chest with fear.

Tyrax let out a roar as he released a large earth missile from his maw, which buried itself into the poison dragon's chest. The dragon growled in pain, staggering. It didn't have time to recover as Tyrax launched himself at the dragon, clamping his jaws around the poison dragon's neck, before twisting his head sideways, bringing the dragon's neck with him, and a loud snap was heard. Tyrax released the dragon, expecting it to fall over, dead. But it didn't. It snarled at him, twisting its head sideways to try and realign its broken neck. It had no avail, and it roared in frustration, turning its body to stare Tyrax in the eyes, its twisted, broken neck making it even more horrific as the snarling head stared at him sideways.

For a moment, Tyrax was crippled by his fear of the undead. If this poison dragon couldn't be killed by a broken neck, then chances are, it was wielding the power of the undead. Inhaling a quaky breath, Tyrax swallowed, trying to focus. "That's stupid." Tyrax reassured himself out loud, to try and help with his anxiety. "It's just dark magic. It's just dark magic…

"Which is what the power of the undead is. Oh, no! I can't concentrate! I… I… I don't know what to think anymore!" Tyrax panicked. "I'm going to die! I'm going to die right here, and I _know_ it!"

Suddenly, the poison dragon fell to the ground as it was engulfed in bright electricity. Blitz lunged at the poison dragon and hacked at its head, flecking his body with even more of the horrid green blood. Eventually, there was a shattering sound, and the poison dragon fell silent. "Thank you." Tyrax breathed.

"Next time, try paying attention to what Cynder does. She has experience with dark creatures like this. You've already seen her take down one of these." Blitz said.

"I'm sorry. I got… I got scared." Tyrax shivered.

"Fear's normal in a situation like this, but you can't let it cripple you." Cynder said, walking up behind Blitz, her body painted with the most amount of green blood out of all of them. "You should know that."

Tyrax looked at the dark dragoness and nodded, feeling ashamed of himself. He watched as Vetar walked up to them, a large bleeding cut along his left flank. "We should go." he suggested.

Cynder nodded, and ran off in the direction towards the barracks, with Tyrax, Blitz and Vetar following. It was two minutes later when they managed to arrive. Cynder was surprised they didn't come across any more poison dragons, but they did have to dodge a few poison missiles. Vetar was almost hit twice, and Cynder was hit once, but it was better her than her companions. They ran into the barracks, and all eyes turned to them. "Where's Logron?!" Cynder bellowed.

"I'm here, why?" Logron asked, walking up to them. "I was just leaving."

"There's an attack on Warfang. Poison dragons. Much like the shadowclaws, except their energy crystal is stored in their head." Cynder explained. "They can only be taken down by decapitation or shattering of the gem inside their head, which must be hacked into to be destroyed."

"What, now?!" Logron shouted.

"WHY THE DAMN HELL DO YOU THINK I'M TELLING THIS TO YOU?!" Cynder screamed, her patience running short.

"Alright, very poor timing for this battle right now, but fine. Kravel, Oren, Parlin, I want you three to go with Cynder, Blitz, Tyrax and Vetar to try and fight these poison dragons. Marnix, Trevor, Schugarh, Prekia, and Ujuron, I want you to come with me. We'll go and find Apata and Molron and see if they're alright." Logron ordered. "Where and how are they?"

"Molron's been badly poisoned. I've taken the poison out of his system, but he's still physically weak. Apata's with him. They're in the vicinity of the restaurant we were at. Hojar's, I think it's called." Cynder said.

"Yep, I know the one." Logron said. "Do you have any ideas on what you'll be doing next?"

"I want to see if the guardians are alright. They didn't do so well last time they fought the shadowclaws." Cynder explained.

"That's a good idea; Cyril looked really out of it recently. Everyone else, go home. Protect your families. You heard Cynder, so you know what to do if you find a poison dragon." Logron bellowed.

"And be careful of the poison missiles." Cynder added.

"Alright, now go!" Logron shouted.

Cynder turned and left the barracks, with her original three companions following her, her three new companions catching up. Kravel was a large earth dragon who was quite a dark colour of green. His horns were unnatural for an earth dragon, sticking out sharply in a ring around his forehead and jawline, the feature generally exclusive to lightning dragons, suggesting some lightning dragon heritage. Kravel was in his sixties, yet looked to be the strongest dragon Cynder had seen today so far. Oren was a fire dragon in his forties, with a big stocky build similar to Vetar. He was missing his right eye, however, and there was a large patch wrapped around his head that covered the empty eye socket. Massive scars stretched along his eye socket from underneath the patch, and Cynder thought that it was probably sliced out. She hoped it wasn't her doing, but she pushed the ugly thought away before she could dwell on it for too long. Finally, Parlin was an ice dragoness. She was quite large, larger than Cynder, despite looking about a year younger than her. Her bright cyan scales shone brightly, and scars covered her left foreleg. Cynder noticed, as Parlin asked a question to Blitz, that Parlin's teeth were slightly longer than a normal dragon's might be. They were significantly thinner too, giving her more room to grow more of the thin, needle-sharp fangs in her jaws. Her form was also quite slender, similar to Cynder's.

Cynder snapped out of her attentive thoughts. If she wanted to know more about these dragons, it would have to be later. They needed to find the guardians and let them know about this. "Chances are, the guardians will be inside the Warfang Temple. I just pray to the ancestors that they haven't decided to leave yet." Cynder said.

"Well, we'd better go quickly, then." Parlin said, her voice deep, yet very feminine.

An odd look crept onto Blitz's face as Parlin spoke. Cynder wasn't sure what it was, and so she ignored it. Taking Parlin's suggestion into account, she ran off in the direction of the Warfang Temple, breathing heavily. Oren piped up from behind Cynder. "Wouldn't it be quicker if we go by flying?" Oren asked.

"It would, but if we get hit by a poison missile in mid-air it's likely to do more damage. It'd push more poison throughout the body as you fall, land, and try to stand up again." Cynder explained. "Plus, if we come across any poison dragons, it'd be more dangerous. They're faster, and would definitely be so in mid-air. It'd be safer for us on the ground. Not only that, but if someone's in trouble, we can get to them faster."

Oren didn't argue with that as they continued on their way. Vetar suddenly let out a shout as he was tackled by two poison dragons. Cynder turned back and shoved her horns into the flank of one of the poison dragons, hoisting it up into the air and throwing it on the ground next to her. Tyrax leapt on it as he began hacking at the poison dragon's head. Cynder brought her tailblade forcefully down on top of the poison dragon's neck, cutting it halfway, before raising it and bringing it down a second time, cutting the dragon's head clean off its shoulders.

Cynder turned to see Vetar pick himself up off the ground, Blitz and Kravel attacking the poison dragon savagely. They weren't as quick as Cynder and Tyrax had been, as the poison dragon turned its head, before clamping its jaws down on Blitz's right forepaw. It twisted its head and pulled, trying to rip the paw clean off the leg. Cynder leapt at the poison dragon, breathing black fire at its back, scorching not only the flesh around its spine, but severely burning its wings as well. The poison dragon reared its head and roared in pain, as Blitz fell to the ground, his paw bright red with blood. Cynder then swung her tailblade around and cut the dragon's head off its neck, satisfied with the spurt of gore, causing the disembodied head to roll pitifully on the ground for a few metres, a thick trail of dark green blood following it.

Kravel helped Blitz to his paws. Blitz winced as he placed weight on his wounded paw, withdrawing it immediately. "Are you alright?" Kravel asked.

"I can go on. I've experienced worse pain than this." Blitz retorted, placing his paw on the ground, wincing as pain seethed through it and blood continued to squeeze out of the bite wound.

"Alright, let's go!" Cynder scowled.

They continued on their way, and before long, they had made it to the Warfang Temple. "GUARDIANS!" Cynder bellowed as she ran into the Temple, using tones in her voice that many dragons wouldn't normally hear from her (her companions were certainly shocked at the sheer power behind her strong bellow).

Cynder's companions followed her into the Warfang Temple, as she let out another bellowing roar as she called the guardians again. " _What_?! What _is_ it?!" Volteer's voice scowled from down the hallway, and when seven pairs of eyes turned towards Volteer, and the electric guardian recognised who was with Cynder, his face immediately fell. "What… what's wrong?"

"Cynder? What's the matter?" Terrador asked, walking up behind Volteer, with Cyril close behind him.

"There's another attack on Warfang. Poison dragons this time. There was a downpour of poisonous missiles earlier, too, coating Warfang in poisonous liquid. It could be for the poison dragons to absorb to increase their power." Cynder explained.

"Poison dragons? We need to go out there and fight." Cyril said.

"Not in your condition, Cyril. Your face has been battered enough. Your damned eye is still recovering, and I doubt you can fight if you can barely even see. You need to stay safe where that wound won't become permanent." Terrador spat back at the ice guardian.

"I'm coming, whether you like it or not. I will fight for Warfang, my home. And if I die thanks to my 'damned eye' as you call it, then so be it. There's nothing you can stop me for fighting for my home." Cyril scowled, before turning to Cynder. "How do we defeat these poison dragons?"

"They have a crystal similar to the ones in the shadowclaws, except located in its head this time. Like the shadowclaws, the only way they can be killed is if the crystal is destroyed, or if the dragon loses its head. To destroy the crystal, you'd need to hack into the dragon's forehead. Their scales are much stronger than the shadowclaws as well though, so it'll take a lot more work." Cynder explained.

"Alright, let's go." Cyril said, determined to fight for his home.

"You're not going, Cyril!" Terrador shouted firmly.

"If he wants to, then let him!" Volteer roared, defending Cyril for the first time in a long time. "Our home's in trouble, and you want him to stay back and cower?! If you were in Cyril's position, wouldn't _you_ still want to fight, _regardless_ of your gaping head wound?"

Terrador didn't reply. He glared daggers at Volteer, wanting the lightning guardian to stay out of it. But he had to admit that Volteer had a point. His home was in danger. If he was in Cyril's terrible position, he'd still want to fight to protect the city he had lived in for his whole life. He lowered his head, averting his gaze from Volteer's. "Exactly." Volteer scowled. "Now are we going or what?"

* * *

 **I'm back and I'm pretty happy with this one. Introducing a new species of dark dragon in Spyro's army, as well as Electrika's back yay!**

 **I've been meaning to do some more 3D modelling over the past two days but I got distracted by playing _Five Nights at Freddy's 2_ yesterday (Night 6 is terrible because Foxy and BB are actually somewhat broken at points in Night 6, and it seems to be only Night 6) and writing Chapter 3 of _Purple Legacy_ Part 2 today, but I'm gonna try and get into doing it tomorrow, which will be good.**

 **…**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **Yeah, Spyro's found the Sound Gem, so that's not going to be good for anyone. Glad to know that you liked the backstory bits in last chapter (especially Vetar's part – don't worry, he's not hypocritical like Electrika I can tell you that). Not sure if you misread this, because I definitely said that Blitz's nephew was also killed. The body was never found. But how are the poison dragons for you? They're gonna play a big part in the story, especially the next chapter.**

 **Sun Fury:** **Good, I'm glad that cliffhanger turned out well. :D This chapter's ending wasn't too bad, but it still has that sense of dread at the end.**

 **…**

 **Thanks all for reading, and hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time, have fun with life, leave a review, and I'll see you around with the next chapter.**


	21. Chapter 20: Despair

**WARNING: This chapter contains some detailed gore and graphic violence.**

* * *

Before anyone could make any sign of acknowledging Volteer, there was a loud screech as eight of Spyro's dark dragons ran into the Warfang Temple, snarling menacingly. Five of them were poison dragons, and three of them were shadowclaws. "Oh, great. Now we've got shadowclaws to add into the chaos as well!" Cynder groaned as a shadowclaw launched itself at her.

Cynder reared up onto her hind legs, clawing at the shadowclaw that had leapt at her, slamming it into the ground. The shadowclaw growled in pain, scrambling frantically to get back onto its paws, but Cynder put her forepaws on top of it, pinning it to the ground as it snarled and squirmed savagely underneath her paws. The shadowclaw then turned its head and breathed black fire at Cynder, and she staggered backwards, releasing the shadowclaw as the heat from the attack burned through her scales. A large glob of poison then hit her in the back of the head, and she turned to see a slightly wounded poison dragon lunge at Cynder. She swung her tailblade around, bringing it cleanly through the poison dragon's neck as its momentum did most of the slicing work for her. The dragon's head landed on the floor with a huge splatter of green blood, rolling around and stopping in front of the shadowclaw, who glanced anxiously at the severed head before looking at Cynder, a menacing growl emanating from its throat. The shadowclaw leapt at Cynder, but Cynder was quicker as she raised her tailblade and plunged it into the shadowclaw's chest. She penetrated the thick ribs and felt the crystal shatter at the end of her tailblade, before she withdrew it, blackened with blood. The shadowclaw fell to the ground with a cold stare, unmoving.

She turned and gasped as she heard Terrador howl in pain behind her. A shadowclaw had plunged its tailblade deep into the earth guardian's left flank, and when the shadowclaw pulled it out of Terrador's flank, terrible amounts of blood came gushing out of the wound as Terrador fell to the ground, groaning and squirming on the ground in agony. Cynder lunged at the shadowclaw, tackling it to the ground before cutting savagely at the shadowclaw's neck with her tailblade, eventually separating its head from its shoulders. Cynder turned to check if Terrador was alright, but before she could say anything, the earth guardian spoke to her. "I'll be fine. Go help the others. Get rid of these pests before you worry about finding red gems for me." Terrador croaked stubbornly, and Cynder hesitated. "Go! I'll be fine!"

Cynder took a hesitant step back from Terrador, before looking behind her and seeing Vetar and Oren fighting two poison dragons, Vetar ducking as he narrowly missed a glob of poison that shot from the gaping maw of one of the poison dragons. "A little help?!" Oren cried out, as the tailblade of the other poison dragon sliced across his right forepaw, leaving a large, yet shallow cut, that still bled quite a lot.

Cynder immediately turned to Vetar and Oren, leaping at the poison dragon that had cut Oren's forepaw, raising both her forepaws in the air as she made a high leap. The poison dragon made the mistake of looking up at Cynder, and so when Cynder brought her claws down, she had eventually sliced out both of the poison dragon's eyes, and the dragon staggered around, sightless, dark green blood streaming from the empty eye sockets, almost slipping over one of its disembodied eyes in the process. Once it righted its centre of gravity, the venomfang growled and kicked the eye at Cynder, green blood from the trailing optic nerve spraying everywhere. Cynder was forced to duck as the eye soared over her head, landing with a wet thud on the ground. With a roar, Oren came up from behind the poison dragon and did three long sweeps with his tailblade around the dragon's neck, and the dragon's head fell off its shoulders, causing the body to slump to the ground, green gore spilling from both ends of the split neck.

Cynder and Oren turned around and helped Vetar, who dodged another glob of poison, much more narrowly this time. Oren tackled the poison dragon to the ground, and Vetar put both his paws down on the dragon's head to stop it from fighting back, but the dragon threw Oren off from on top of it and bent its body around to raise its tailblade over Vetar's head. Vetar leapt out of the way as the tailblade came down, striking the air, before the poison dragon rolled over onto its back. The poison dragon stood up and opened its jaws as it let out a massive roar, revealing the appalling sight of its throat vibrating from the loud gurgling roar. Cynder ran towards the poison dragon to attack it, but it was quicker. It turned around and slashed Cynder across the face, leaving three bloody claw marks down her cheek as she staggered backwards, hissing air through her teeth.

Oren leapt at the poison dragon, his jaws open in a loud scream, but the poison dragon turned around and shot a glob of poison at Oren. The young fire dragon was soaring through the air with such momentum that he couldn't move out of the way, and he was in just the right spot for the glob of poison to soar into his mouth and down his throat. Oren felt the glob of poison splatter around the walls of his throat, and knew that there was no way the poison could be extracted. He could feel it against his flesh, sizzling hot, eating through the walls of his throat and entering his bloodstream. It even dribbled down his throat and into his stomach and began to eat away at the digestive organ. Oren howled in pain, and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his flesh be corroded from the inside out.

Vetar snarled savagely at the sight of this, and swiftly swung his tailblade around in a wide arc, cutting halfway through the poison dragon's neck. He withdrew his tailblade to attack again, but before he could do so, Cynder brought her tailblade around and finished the job as the poison dragon fell to the ground, dead, in two remaining pieces.

Cynder and Vetar, ignoring the battle around them, ran towards Oren. Cynder wanted to save him from the poison, but knew that the poison was already too far into his system, and she wouldn't be able to get that deep into his throat to call back the poison. By the time she had already finished that thought, Oren had let out a strained gurgling cry of agony as pink, almost red foam began to form around his mouth. Oren gagged three times before coughing up dark red blood, and his body began to convulse savagely as poison flowed through his bloodstream. His hind left leg was now writhing in angry spasms, before it began to deteriorate, folding in and beginning to excrete blood and pus as the wound formed from inside the limb, spreading to the outside. Cynder wanted to stop it, but she knew that the fire dragon lying on the ground in front of her was too far gone. She couldn't stop the feeling of horrid guilt, and she felt tears prick her eyes as Oren let out another gurgled cry as his mouth went red with his own blood. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing except a hoarse croak came out. Long strings of blood hung from his jaws like saliva, and the blood pooling around his bottom jaw began to drip down his chin. As Cynder looked closely, even his mouth was beginning to deteriorate, darkening with mouldy, rotten flesh that oozed with blood and pus, and black spots began to decorate his tongue. The holes in his tongue became bigger and bigger, before the tongue was now mostly holes, the muscle still in some sort of shape because of the strings of flesh that bound it together. The bottom of his tongue had now collapsed, spilling huge amounts of blood due to the large blood vessels that decorate the bottom of a dragon's tongue. He coughed savagely, spitting out the heap of blood that was forming in his mouth (which was replaced almost immediately by the same amount of blood), as well as a large tooth that had somehow become loose. Then, his left foreleg twitched, and he fell still.

"He's dead…" Cynder muttered, not wanting it to be true, horror-struck by what she had just witnessed. "I couldn't stop it. I… I couldn't… help him."

"This was the destiny the ancestors had for him." Terrador said from behind Cynder.

Cynder turned around and gave Terrador a look of terror. The battle had faded from around them, the three remaining dragons lying dead in their own blood. Cynder stammered, unable to find the words she words looking for. Vetar sensed her discomfort, and wrapped a wing around her. "He'll be safe and happy with the ancestors." Vetar said.

Cynder nodded, still speechless at the horror she had just witnessed. It had been _years_ since she had last seen any creature die by poison, let alone a dragon. And she hated it. She had never seen a dragon be affected this much by poison either. Nor had she seen one be eaten from inside-out; normally she would spit poison on the exterior of a dragon's body, which would then enter the bloodstream and rot the internal organs. This had happened in the opposite way; Oren had been hit on the _inside_ of his body, causing the poison to go into his bloodstream and then destroy his exterior the way the interior would normally be destroyed, all at the same time destroying the interior _as well_. It was _horrifying_. Due to the sickening amount of blood Oren had coughed up before his mouth had filled with blood from the bottom of his tongue, she guessed his lungs had been the first thing to corrode, filling up with blood and rendering him unable to breathe, closely followed by the nearby heart. As Cynder stepped back to join up with the other dragons, she couldn't take her eyes off Oren's limp, rotten, _bloody_ body.

"So now what?" Kravel asked.

"We'll clean up in here later." Cyril said, shuddering as he looked away from Oren's corpse. "For now, we need to drive our attackers out of here."

There was a scream from outside. Cynder was the first to run towards the sound. She gasped as she saw a young ice dragoness, barely older than her, halfway across the courtyard, being attacked by two shadowclaws. Cynder leapt towards them, tailblade raised high in the air ready to take down the shadowclaws. She shouldered the ice dragoness out of the way as the shadowclaws caught sight of her, seeing Cynder as a larger target to focus on. The shadowclaws tackled her to the ground, and Cynder growled as she lashed out with her claws and tailblade. She felt the claws of the shadowclaws gripping her tightly, until one slipped. The claws left a large, bloody cut down her shoulder, but the paw wielding the claws had slid down in range of her maw, and she saw her chance. She turned and clamped her jaws down around the shadowclaw's ankle, and it screeched in pain. Cynder twisted her head around, causing the shadowclaw to topple over and fall off her, taking the other shadowclaw with it as it fell heavily into its side. Abruptly, as they fell, Cynder turned her head the other way, and with the momentum of both shadowclaws heading in one direction, and the sudden momentum of the shadowclaw's paw stuck in Cynder's mouth in the other direction, there was a snap and a spurting of black blood as Cynder ripped the shadowclaw's paw clean off its arm, and the shadowclaw let out a pained howl.

Cynder scrambled to her paws, spitting out the bloody limb that she carried in her mouth, and let out a savage growl. Before she knew it, Volteer and Tyrax had joined Cynder, leaping at the shadowclaws. One of them had made it to its paws, and it was tackled back to the ground again by Volteer, but the other, with only three paws, was unable to stabilise itself properly to stand up, so Tyrax kept the shadowclaw downed. Cynder leapt at the three-pawed shadowclaw and plunged her tailblade into the shadowclaw's chest, feeling the crystal embedded into its ribs shatter, and the shadowclaw fell silent. She withdrew her weapon and watched as Volteer killed the shadowclaw he had downed. Blitz had made it over to the ice dragoness and was taking her towards the Warfang Temple. "I'll stay with her, to make sure she's alright and recovers from the shock properly." Blitz said, wrapping his wing around the traumatised ice dragoness.

He was acknowledged by only a nod from Cynder. She was about to address Tyrax, Vetar, Kravel, Parlin, and the guardians neutrally, but she let out a loud howl of warning instead as she looked up and saw a massive poison missile fall from the sky. The dragons all leapt out of the way, one half leaping to the left side of the courtyard and the other leaping to the right. Cynder tried to run to the guardians and Vetar, but was cut off as three poison dragons leapt at her, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. She let out a scream, and leapt backwards, falling back with Tyrax, Kravel and Parlin. The poison dragons leapt at them with jaws outstretched, venom dripping from their fangs in a terrifying display. "RUN!" Cynder ordered to her companions as she spread her wings defensively, taking the onslaught of poison attacks.

Cynder absorbed the poison she took in, and turned to run after Tyrax, Kravel and Parlin. They ran down a skinny street, receiving frightened looks through slightly opened windows from buildings as the poison dragons followed them in hot pursuit. Cynder looked back and let out a loud shriek, using a siren scream on the three poison dragons. Two of them dodged the powerful sound waves, but the other fell to the ground, screeching and writhing in fear. Cynder fought her way through the poison dragons to kill the one that had been affected by her fear element. She called for help, but only Tyrax returned to help her. Kravel and Parlin were out of sight.

Tyrax leapt at one of the poison dragons, clamping his jaws shut tight around the neck of one of them. He twisted his head around, snapping the neck of the poison dragon, before realising he had done exactly this not too long ago with no success due to the biology of the creature, and he felt the same fear cripple him. He suddenly caught sight of Cynder, downing the poison dragon she was fighting and cutting into its head savagely, and Tyrax narrowed his eyes, abandoning the thought of what he had experienced last time he snapped a poison dragon's neck, and, with the dragon's neck still in his jaws, he threw the dragon to the ground. Before he could think about the fact that the poison dragon was still alive, Tyrax slammed his tailblade down on the poison dragon's neck savagely, before its head was separated from its body in a pool of dark green blood. He looked at Cynder, and saw that she had finished off the poison dragon she had knocked down with her siren scream. He looked at Cynder, and the two knew what each other was thinking, the words not needing to be said.

They should go and find Kravel and Parlin.

Cynder and Tyrax turned and ran down the streets, looking in every which way to find Kravel and Parlin, but they had no luck. Two shadowclaws leapt out at them from around a corner, and Cynder was tackled to the ground. Quickly, she kicked out with her hind legs, sending both shadowclaws into the air. Tyrax swung his tailblade around, only managing to slit the throat of one of the shadowclaws, but it stood up, snarling, as if nothing happened to it. Tyrax swallowed his fear and clawed at the shadowclaw, but it dodged and breathed black fire at him, sending him to the ground, writhing and shouting in pain. Cynder struggled to her paws, and was about to attack the shadowclaw, until a red body slammed into it, sending it falling to the ground.

"Pyron?!" Cynder exclaimed.

Pyron swung his tailblade around forcefully, finishing the job Tyrax started as his tailblade sliced through the shadowclaw's neck. The fire dragon smiled. "You look like you need help." Pyron said.

"Yes! Thank you! Come on!" Cynder shouted, scrambling to her paws and clamping her jaws around the downed shadowclaw, and it let out a loud screech of pain. She twisted her head sideways, and there was a terrible, resounding crack as she twisted the shadowclaw's head backwards around its neck, before pulling up, ripping the head forcefully off the neck just for safe measures.

With a shrill screech, the other shadowclaw leapt at her, but Pyron shoved his head forward, thrusting his sharp horns into the shadowclaw's chest, and vast amounts of inky black blood rained down on him as a shattering sound was heard, and the shadowclaw let out one final scream before it lay still, dead, skewered on Pyron's horns. Pyron threw the shadowclaw corpse to the ground and removed his horns from its chest, which were covered in inky black liquid as it flooded down his neck and forehead, dripping down over his face. "Quick, let's go and find Kravel and Parlin!" Cynder cried, and she led Tyrax and Pyron down the bloodstained street.

Cynder was discomforted by the many extra dragon corpses that scattered the streets, dark red blood spilling out from deep wounds, emptied eye sockets, and dragons that had rotted due to either the poison dragons or the poison missiles. They killed two shadowclaws and a poison dragon on the way down the streets in feeble attempts to save the dragons they were mutilating. Alas, every single one of them died of blood loss, rotting, or a severed head. One of the shadowclaws had even ripped out the heart of one of the suffering dragons and eaten it whole, sending red blood squirting all over its lips.

It wasn't long before they found Kravel and Parlin. They were unfortunate, however, to just catch Kravel breathe his dying breath, all four limbs torn from his body and his chest ripped apart so bone and a pierced, failing heart was visible. Parlin was covered in blood, and her left eye had been removed from the socket, as red blood streamed from it. Dark green blood pooled around her lips as a poison dragon corpse lay at her paws. "It took you long enough!" Parlin scowled, her voice rough and croaky.

"Sorry. We were caught up." Cynder said. "But we'd better find the others. There's been enough death here. We can't afford anyone else to die. Especially the guardians."

"Good idea." Parlin said, and Tyrax mumbled in agreement. Pyron was silent, but Cynder knew he agreed.

They turned and left, hoping they would be able to find Vetar and the guardians quickly, before anything bad happened to them. It took them about five minutes of endless searching and fighting, with no prevail, before a loud shout tore from somewhere nearby. Cynder recognised that shout. She had heard it a lot during her time as the Terror of the Skies. It was Cyril. He was in pain. Despite eleven years having passed, his screams were still the same. She remembered his cries of pain and protest when she captured him to extract his energy to create a portal to Convexity to free Malefor. Guilt swarmed her mind.

Shaking her head violently to remove the dire thoughts, Cynder growled and ran forward, beckoning Tyrax, Pyron and Parlin to follow her, before they came into an open courtyard, gasping with what she saw. Tears pricked her eyes, and she froze. The other three did the same.

Vetar lay in a bloody mess, still alive, luckily, in the corner of the courtyard, one of his horns missing and another split in half (luckily for him, they were both the horns on his jaws, so he still had the weapons on his head intact). Blood streamed from both his nostrils, his mouth, and his neck, although none of the wounds were fatal, as Cynder could tell from her gruesome past experiences regarding wounds and blood loss. The guardians, also very badly wounded, covered in their own blood, were in a fury of elements, fangs, tailblades and claws, fighting the dark creature that loomed over them. It was not a shadowclaw or poison dragon. It was none other than the Dark Overlord himself, Spyro the Purple Dragon.

Spyro was different now. No longer shrouded in a hideous purple, almost black mist. His scales were dark purple, much like Cynder's, probably darker, and were incredibly glossy. Gold and bronze markings that looked almost like tattoos danced wildly around all four of Spyro's paws, as well as around his neck and up around his head, before creating a shape similar to a mask around his two, savage, wild red eyes that burned with bloody passion. His smile was wide, and Cynder got a look at his glistening yellow fangs for the first time. Jagged, long and serrated, they would be a horror to go up against. His snout and mouth were slightly larger, as was his head, and more teeth were shoved in his wet, snarling mouth, crooked and obscenely massive. There were actually two rows of the jagged teeth, wrapping around a wet, hissing, bloodstained tongue. Spyro's shoulders were fitted with three large spikes that stuck out sideways, making a shoulder barge incredibly dangerous, and his wing-tips were even fitted with large, golden blades, much like Cynder's. His claws were long and curved, and would do a good deal of damage, and his tailblade was horrendous to look at; large, serrated, jagged, and covered in blood that shone in the rays of the dying sun, as thick black smoke from Dark Peak filled the sky above them.

Cynder could not hold back her emotion upon seeing Spyro. She let out a shrill, ear-piercing scream as she ran forward, lips pulled back in a savage snarl that exposed almost every one of her fangs, and plenty of bright pink gum. She could hear Pyron and Parlin protesting behind her, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. She didn't _want_ to hear what they were saying. The guardians were in trouble, and she wanted revenge on Spyro. She wanted her bloody _revenge_.

With a loud roar, Cynder sprang into the air, a croaky, savage roar bellowing from her throat, which hurt from all the shouting she had done earlier as she ran towards Spyro. As she soared through the air, she raised both her forepaws, claws glistening in the dying sunlight, and fangs bared. She struggled not to lick her lips as she longed to taste Spyro's blood.

Cynder had been hoping to catch Spyro off guard, but the Dark Overlord was prepared, as he whirled around and swung his jagged tailblade in a wide arc towards her, and left her soaring sideways into the wall of an empty library, a terrible wound streaking along both of her flanks and across her belly. She screamed in pain, red blood flooding from the wound and onto the ground below her, pooling around her paws until her paws were drenched in her blood. She was in the most pain she had ever been. Looking down, the wound was not fatal, she could tell, but it was pretty deep and hurt like hell, immense amounts of blood streaming from the wound.

Tyrax and Pyron ran to her aid, moving around the perimeter of the courtyard to avoid Spyro, and Parlin, snarling, ran towards Spyro with a savage roar, much like Cynder had before her. Parlin was not as lucky as her. With a large swing of Spyro's tailblade, Parlin's head was severed from her neck, letting out a _massive_ spray of gore, and she fell to the ground in two pieces, her face a frozen look of pure hatred, fangs bared and eyes narrow, as her tongue lolled lazily onto the floor. Blood spilled from her neck and up through her throat, and Volteer almost slipped in the pool of blood left over from the rolling head as he narrowly dodged a large claw that threatened to cut his eye out.

Spyro let out a deep, throaty roar as he turned around, blood finally being drawn from him as Terrador raked his claws down Spyro's side. The Dark Overlord's eyes began to increase in its intensity, the bright red eyes blinding and piercing through Terrador's soul, and he couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried. "MOVE, TERRADOR!" Cynder heard Volteer scream. Cyril was already running towards Terrador, head lowered to headbutt the frozen earth guardian out of the way.

The ice guardian screeched to a halt as Terrador let out a terrible, shrill, ear-piercing scream which should have been _impossible_ for someone with as deep a voice as his. Blood streamed from his head as his skull cracked from the force of the tailblade that ran cleanly through one side of his head and out the other, and his head fell forwards slightly, the back of his pierced skull resting on the golden, blood-stained tailblade that had pierced the skull and skewered his brain. He gave Cynder a brief glance, eyes wide and pupils tiny, regret and guilt glistening relentlessly in the two orbs. The glance was quick as Terrador's breath suddenly failed him, and his shriek cut off abruptly, before his eyes rolled back in his head, nothing but the white sclerae showing through the eye sockets, and saliva pooled around his lips. With a throaty cackle, the Dark Overlord pulled his weapon free forcefully, sending huge amounts of blood and pieces of severed brains spraying all over the ground. Terrador fell limply to the floor, his head twisted at an awkward angle so that Terrador's white, sightless eyes stared horrifically at Cynder.

She couldn't hear herself screaming. But she could feel her lungs giving way as she screamed with one breath. Cynder broke down in tears. Terrador lay on the ground, staring at her with hideous white eyes, dead. He was gone. The strong, stubborn earth dragon who she never thought could be killed was gone. _Murdered_. In the most _terrible_ way possible.

Volteer attacked Spyro, tears brimming in his eyes, and Spyro slashed his claws at Volteer furiously, drawing hideous amounts of blood, and Cyril turned towards Cynder eyes also welling with tears. "GET OUT OF HERE! TAKE VETAR AND GO!" he screamed.

"No! NO!" Cynder shrieked, recomposing herself from her shock. "I won't leave you here to die! I will fight to the end!"

"This is _not_ your fight, Cynder! Now's not your time!"

"How do you know?!"

"I just _do_ , okay?!" Cyril shouted. "LEAVE US HERE! THIS IS OUR TIME TO DIE!"

Reluctantly, Cynder scrambled to her paws, and Pyron wrapped a wing around her to stabilise her. Tyrax ran towards Vetar, helping him to his paws. As they all stood and hobbled slowly out of the courtyard, Cynder heard Cyril let out a roar of pain.

Regretting her decision to look back, Cynder turned her head and saw as Cyril fell to the ground, dead, his heart pulled savagely from his chest as it sat skewered on Spyro's bloody tailblade, bloody arteries hanging from the skewered organ and dripping blood all over the ground. The Dark Overlord shook the organ to the side, sending it rolling along the ground towards her, leaving bloody entrails sprayed along the ground behind it. Cynder screamed with fear and shock, having never seen anything so savage for a long time. "GO!" she heard Volteer scream, long and loud, before his screams became ones of unending agony.

Tears streamed down Cynder's face as she turned and hobbled off, away from the horrors that she had witnessed. Volteer's cries filled the air behind her, before they cut off abruptly, and Cynder knew he was dead. All three guardians. Killed within a few mere _seconds_.

Cynder collapsed a few blocks away from the courtyard, almost bringing Pyron with her. Spyro would find her here, she knew it. She didn't care what happened. She wouldn't care if Spyro found her. Everything was over. Those she had loved as a child: Spyro, Ignitus, Terrador, Volteer and Cyril; they were all gone. Spyro taken by darkness. The guardians all killed. Cynder couldn't hold back her tears. She could hear Pyron urging her to get up, but the sound of his voice was hazy. Distant. The screams of Terrador, Volteer and Cyril filled her head, and her head throbbed. The end had come, and she would welcome it willingly. She wanted to live another day, but she knew that Spyro would find her, and he would take her with him to Dark Peak, or even better, kill her.

There was a loud roar behind her, and she knew her time was up. She turned back to see Spyro running towards her, knocking Tyrax, Pyron and Vetar out of the way with his wings, before leaping towards her. He pinned her to the ground, a sinister smile etched onto his face. Red blood dripped down his face and onto Cynder's chest, and she shook with fear. Bloody claws pinned her forcefully to the ground. The blood of the guardians.

Cynder was too scared to speak. Her voice failed her. But she silently willed Spyro to end it all. One swift strike and she wouldn't have to worry anymore. One swipe across her throat and it'd all be over. _Just kill me!_ Cynder pleaded in her mind. _Kill me now!_

Spyro opened his blood-stained mouth and spoke. "Where is it?" he scowled. His voice was horrific. His breath reeked of bloody death. Cynder's heart smashed against her chest, and she didn't know what to say. Spyro drew another breath and growled angrily. "Where is it, Cynder?! I know you have it!"

"What? What are you looking for?" Cynder asked, fear gripping her like a vice, tears streaming fown her face.

"You know _damn_ well what I want, Cynder!" Spyro shouted, bloodied saliva spraying from his lips and onto her chest. Cynder didn't answer him, and he dug his claws into Cynder's flesh, before asking again, more forcefully, as he thrusted his face into Cynder's, his horrific red gaze staring into her teary emerald eyes. "Where is the _damned_ Sound Gem?!"

"I don't know! I don't know where it is, I swear!" Cynder wailed, fear grasping her even harder, getting to the point where she felt she could not breathe.

"You deny that you have it!" Spyro's eyes glowed a blinding white as he said this.

"I don't have it!"

Cynder felt pain flare through her neck as Spyro let out a roar of frustration and thrust his claws up, slicing through her flesh and cutting her choker so it came off her neck. There was a bright glow from inside the choker, and Spyro, who was still on top of Cynder, reached down into the destroyed choker, before pulling out a glowing grey, almost white crystal. The Sound Gem, Cynder realised. She had had it all this time. But why? But there was a more important question that should be asked instead. "Why do you want it?" Cynder asked. "What does it do?"

"Does it matter to you?" Spyro shot back.

"Why do you want it?" Cynder repeated, more forcefully this time. "What does it do?"

"It allows the person wielding it to hear things around them better, even causing them to hear things in other parts of the world, much like you have recently, in being able to hear the dragons of Jorgarath, and the slaves in Dark Peak. I managed to track this thing down by you using it, albeit unintentionally. But I will only tell you _why_ I want it if you join me. Chance number two. Come with me, my love. I will show you _everything_ I've been working on! I know you'll love it!" Spyro said with an evil cackle.

"No. I'd rather _die_ than join you!" Cynder snarled.

Spyro's features hardened. "Fair enough. But I won't kill you. I'll leave you here to suffer, to revel in the glory of your precious guardians' deaths!"

With that, Spyro spread out his wings, and let out a loud, deafening roar, before taking to the skies, and air returned to Cynder's lungs. Cynder looked up and saw that the sky was filled with retreating shadowclaws and poison dragons. She heard Spyro's voice as he left. "I hope the venomfangs treated you well!"

 _Venomfangs. He must mean the poison dragons._ Cynder thought, before thinking back to what he had said about the Sound Gem. _So the voices I was hearing… earlier today and just before the siege on Jorgarath… that was the Sound Gem's doing? I didn't even know I had it. And_ why _did I have it? Did_ Malefor _give it to me at some point? To use as a weapon to navigate and to track down the enemy?_

"Are you alright?" Pyron asked, walking forward.

"I'm fine, but I can't move." Cynder said. "Don't try to move me. It hurts."

"Alright. We'll rest for a while, especially as we can do so now." Vetar replied, his voice croaky. "I need to rest as well. I'm sure Tyrax and your friend will, too. I didn't get your name, I'm sorry."

"Pyron. I'm Pyron." the fire dragon said.

"Nice to meet you." Vetar replied.

"Shouldn't we all be going somewhere safer to rest? Rather than being out in the open?" Tyrax asked.

"They're not going to attack again so soon after leaving? Plus, barely any of us can move right now. We need to rest up right here, right now. We're safe for now, so we may as well rest while we can."

* * *

Time passed. She didn't know how much time had passed. But a long time had passed, probably hours. The sun had set, and the sky was filled with the darkness of night. She stood to her paws, her abdomen aching painfully. She looked back at Tyrax, Pyron and Vetar, who had stopped in the courtyard to rest with her. They had all fallen asleep, exhausted from the action. Cynder had been unable to go to sleep though, the memories of the guardians' deaths still vivid in her mind. Cynder turned around, before limping slowly back towards the courtyard they had been in just hours before.

She walked towards the corpses of Terrador and Cyril. _Wait… Just Terrador and Cyril?_ Cynder thought. _Where's Volteer?_

She looked around, and saw a large pool of blood which had streaked off, before she lost sight of the bloody lines in the darkness. Volteer died. She heard his screams cut off abruptly, signifying his death. But Volteer's corpse was gone. Had Spyro taken him? If so, why? Why did Spyro need Volteer's corpse?

One thought filled Cynder's head. She knew she was probably wrong, but it was better than nothing concerning Volteer's disappearance. _Bloodlust. Spyro said in my dreams 'bloodlust'. He's wanting blood, and more and more of it. He's probably using Volteer's blood for something. Possibly for his own sick hunger._ Cynder thought, her face contorting into an ugly snarl. _He'll feast on his blood tonight. Either that or he's using it in an experiment or something._

Cynder turned and walked towards Terrador. The blood had crusted around his head, and his eyes still lay open, white and sightless. Cynder reached out with her claws and closed the earth guardian's eyelids and jaws, leaving his body in peace, and turned to do the same for Cyril, whose blood had also crusted around his chest. The stench was terrible. Dried blood and rotting flesh filled the air, and she hated it. _We'll bury them tomorrow. I'll be sure of that._ Cynder thought. _Right now, I need to rest._

Wanting to spend the night with the only reminders of those she loved as a child, she walked off to the side of the courtyard, giving Terrador and Cyril some space out of respect, before curling up on the ground and crying herself to sleep.

* * *

 **Well here's Chapter 20 for you! How was it? I feel like around this chapter and onwards is where the story really starts to get interesting, and I'm really looking forward to getting some of the later chapters up soon.**

 **One of my friends tracked down a free game on Steam called _Deceit_ , and it is _so good_. I highly recommend playing it. Only had it for three days and I've already got 10 hours of game time (which is a lot for me). So that's what I've been doing for the past few days.**

 **No reviews to respond to unfortunately, but I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter, and even more so, this chapter. The death scenes this chapter were extremely fun to write, and I think I captured the horror of the moment well.**

 **Anyway, see you all around with another chapter soon!**


	22. Chapter 21: A New Day

The next day was the funeral for the guardians. Cynder had prepared a speech for the funeral before Terrador and Cyril's burial. She had barely made it through the first sentence before she had burst into tears, but she kept going, saying what she wanted to say, before leaving the attenders' attention and weeping uncontrollably. She watched the burial from a distance, weeping harder than she ever had in her life. These guardians had loved her and cared for her, more than anyone else had, and helped her through her grieving when Spyro left her. And now they were gone. The part that made it worse was that Volteer's body had just… disappeared. The electric guardian would not be able to get buried. If someone found his body and had the heart to bury him, they might, but as long as there was the potential that Spyro was using Volteer's body for something, that would not be possible, and that disheartened Cynder the most.

Cynder didn't sleep a wink that night. She prayed to the ancestors that she would get enough sleep to start her first official day on her new job (Logron was to be taking over the leadership position of Warfang temporarily until new guardians were chosen by the ancestors – they were usually chosen by the previous guardians and _very_ rarely by the ancestors, but the first had no chance of happening), and that she would be able to get over her depression. The ancestors didn't seem to reply to her. If they did, she couldn't hear them. She spent all night crying, whimpering, staring out into the night sky through the window in her room. Adrano was beginning to wane, the eerie green light of Zella becoming the dominant colour of the sky. She shivered as a cold breeze made its way through the window, curling up tightly to warm herself up. She looked beside her to look for someone to cuddle up against, for _Spyro_. Until she remembered why she was alone, bringing tears of longing and hatred to her eyes. Spyro had left her, and Forzen had been stolen, either corrupted or dead, Cynder didn't know.

Personally, she hoped Forzen was dead. She didn't want him to live through what she did as a child. The many times she had fought through her corruption for a few mere seconds during her time as the Terror of the Skies, she would always wish she had been killed in the raid against the Dragon Temple like all the others. She had even attempted to slit her own throat twice during that time, but the corruption had fought back quickly, and she never got the chance. Her childhood had been stolen from her, and she would never wish that on Forzen, or any other hatchling in that case.

Morning came, and Cynder was tired as hell. She groaned as the first rays of sunshine beamed through her window, lifting herself groggily to her paws with a wide yawn. She swallowed, and the action hurt. Her throat had been killing her all night as she cried, wailed, whimpered, pleaded to the ancestors, and repeated the cycle many times, with no answer from the ancestors. She wasn't sure if they had forsaken her, or if they couldn't hear her. Everything seemed hopeless, and it seemed like the ancestors either couldn't help, or didn't want to help. Maybe relying on the ancestors did nothing except grant dragons false hope… Cynder decided from then on that she didn't need them. She hadn't eaten all day yesterday, either. Her stomach rumbled loudly as her saliva slid down her throat, the action telling her body that there should be food going down her gullet too. Cynder groaned with annoyance, yawned again, stretching her throat muscles painfully, before walking off and leaving the house.

Warfang was still quite empty. Dragons had stayed inside for fear of another siege, only coming outside when necessary, like if they needed to buy food or see other dragons. Children were forced to play inside, and teenagers were forced to spend more hours inside for school. The teens were generally kept inside a classroom or in the training arena during school hours, learning about fighting techniques and different types of elemental combinations and dragon types, as well as history and the boring stuff. The only reason the teens enjoyed themselves was because the history lessons weren't being taught by Cyril, who used to always drag on and on about his own ancestry and species (which was fairly insensitive due to him just dying two days before, but the avid, careless teens didn't seem to care), and also because they were all learning about interesting war history now, instead of all the boring stuff Cynder had to sit through when she was in school. Now, dragons specialising in each different learning area took the lessons temporarily. Logron had organised all this yesterday, and it had been fairly stressful getting the positions filled, but Logron, as well as all the new teachers, decided that life needed to continue as normal and they couldn't make themselves look weak to Spyro.

Blood still stained the streets of Warfang in vast amounts. The streets were scattered with several dragons, moles, and the occasional panther, a race that Cynder had found in hiding about two years after the war, before bringing them out into the real world. (Spyro was there too, but why does he need to be credited?) Most of the panthers stayed in dragon cities like Warfang or Jorgarath, but some of them went to the cheetah village or returned to the abandoned panther residence in a dense rainforest south of Warfang called Panthesol. These dragons, moles and panthers were still cleaning up blood stains and the occasional corpse that still scattered Warfang. Cynder was rattled out of her sleepy state as she tripped over a corpse, and it slumped further to the ground, its head rolling off its neck with a snap as it had only remained attached by a few clumps of flesh and dried, crusted blood. Cynder let out a scream as she leapt backwards, before recomposing herself and looking around with embarrassment, hoping no one heard her.

"You alright?" a voice asked from behind her, and she whirled around in fright, suddenly jumpy, before composing herself again. A pantheress stood in front of her, crusted blood all inside her matted fur, an awkward smile on her face.

"Y-y-yeah… yeah, I'm fine…" Cynder murmured with embarrassment.

"Don't be worried, Cynder. I've scared myself several times with all these corpses. My mate decided to jump out at me yesterday given how jumpy I was." the pantheress replied. "He didn't escape without a clawed nose, and a pretty bad one at that."

Cynder let out a small chuckle, before she murmured a quiet thank you and goodbye, walking off towards a restaurant. She didn't normally buy her food, but she was too tired to go out hunting or go to the food storage building. Ironically, she had turned up in the restaurant that she had been in two days earlier when the venomfangs first attacked Warfang, but she didn't seem to notice.

Cynder still wasn't up for eating much, despite not having eaten at all yesterday. She got a small serving of goat flank with a few herbs and berries, but even then, she couldn't finish it. Well, the meat, at least; she finished the herbs and berries fine. Just the thought of tearing into flesh made her violently sick. She had done enough of that two days ago. She had drawn immense amounts of blood from her enemies, a fair bit of it with her teeth as well, and she hated the taste of blood. Normally she was quite strong in the face of gore, given her past experiences, but the recent siege on Warfang had been _too_ gory, even for _her_. It scared her, something that normally was a feat to do, and she had also lost the guardians because of the siege. The amount of blood and gore that the guardians' corpses had spilled was _terrifying_. That was the main thing that put her off the bright pink goat flank, and she was thinking of asking to have it cooked so it wouldn't taste as raw and bloody for her, but that only made her heart sink deeper as she thought of Cyril. His face had been mutilated a few days before the siege, burned to a crisp savagely by Shorok, the shadowclaw general, when Jorgarath was attacked.

So, she stood and left with half her goat flank still on the plate. She paid for her food in full, despite the insisting cashier who said that since she didn't feel up to eating most of her meat, she only had to pay half of the amount. Then she turned and left to the barracks, where she would begin her first day supervising and leading the warriors in the Warfang Army.

She walked in and greeted some of the dragons working out and training, before she was greeted by a heavily built electric dragon named Sectal. "Cynder, you have two new applications." Sectal reported. "The papers are sitting on your desk."

"I'm sorry, my… my desk?" Cynder asked.

"Logron didn't show you the offices?"

Cynder shook her head. Sectal sighed. "Alright, come with me. I'll take you to your office." he said, walking out towards the large split room in the middle of the building, walking down the corridor that split off into about four different rooms. "Your office is the one on the first left, opposite Logron's. The two applications will be there."

Cynder nodded her thanks and walked into the dark room. She walked up to her desk and saw a candle sitting on it and breathed a light stream of shadow fire at it. The candle began to burn with a small black flame, which gave off the purple-orange light that shadow fire produced, faintly lighting up her surroundings. She sat down at the desk, feeling slightly awkward, and looked down at the two pieces of parchment. They needed new recruits after Oren, Kravel and Parlin's death, but it was surprising how quick they had come in, especially after the siege on Warfang. The applicants must be really ready to serve and protect Warfang.

The memories shocked her for a moment. She never witnessed Kravel's death, but the sight of his corpse was bad enough. She had been there for Oren and Parlin's deaths, however. She was glad that Parlin's was quick and painless. Oren had lain on the ground in utter pain as poison ate through his body. She remembered that agonising minute, that felt like hours, just watching Oren squirm and splutter, chocking on blood. Cynder felt tears prick her eyes as the memories filled her head, blotting out the task in front of her.

She shook her head, and the memories faded, and she remembered what she was doing. What she had to do. She tilted her head down towards the first piece of parchment. She looked at the name scribbled at the top of the page under the name section. "Kryton Thrundel…" she muttered the dragon's full name out loud. She looked down further and saw that he was an ice dragon, and was twenty-three years of age. Same as her. She continued to read down the page. Kryton seemed promising. He'd done volunteer work in the past, and previously had worked as a guard at a small dragon town called Narcesh for two years. "Accepted, I guess… We'll check him out tomorrow to see if he really is ready." Cynder muttered, picking up the quill out of the ink vial on her desk and signing the page, before shifting the page over to the side, going onto the next. She gasped with shock as she saw the identity of the dragon that had filled out the page.

 _Electrika Schollen, female, electric dragoness, age nineteen._

Cynder swallowed the lump in her throat and read on. Electrika wanted to prove her worth to the city, and to serve it. She had been an orphan for pretty much all her life, and the elderly ice dragon that had adopted her had served Warfang when he was younger. Cynder supposed that Electrika wanted to be like him, and to let his legacy live on. Despite the fighting she and Electrika had had recently, she couldn't bring herself to refuse. To refuse based off personal opinions wouldn't be fair or proper etiquette, and she felt it would be a good thing to do to accept the application.

So, she grabbed the quill again and signed the page.

Cynder put the quill down and stood, walking out of the office, after blowing out the candle gently. She noticed that Sectal had stood waiting for her. "You done?" he asked.

"Yeah. Signed the both of them." Cynder said with a nod. "What do I do with them now?"

"We'll get someone to deliver them." Sectal replied. "We'll get them in tomorrow for extra testing and training in person."

"Alright, thank you." Cynder said, and Sectal turned and walked away.

She looked up and let out a sigh. She didn't have time to ponder on her thoughts as loud, muffled yelling came from beside her, and she looked towards where it was coming. The elemental training room. She was about to dismiss the sound as training, but the yelling didn't sound competitive. It sounded like a serious fight. She padded towards the door and opened it, ducking almost instantly as an earth missile shot over her head. Loud shouts exploded around her, and she looked at one of the rings as two earth dragons wrestled and clawed at each other, yelling savage insults at each other. "Hey, hey! What in the ancestors' names is going on here?!" Cynder yelled, running into the room.

No one answered her. The yelling seemed to get louder. The two dragons' insults were slurred into noise, blended together by many cheers from the spectators of the brawl. One of the earth dragons had blood streaming down his left foreleg from what looked like a very bad bite wound on his shoulder. The other one had blood streaming down his face, deep claw marks flashing down across his right eyelid. His eye was untouched, luckily, but the eyelid was swollen, and had closed up over the eye.

With some of her fear element embedded into her shout to increase the volume of her voice, Cynder let out another angry yell. "Answer me! What is going on here?!" Cynder shouted.

Some of the dragons froze at her voice, but the dragons continued to fight. The one with the bloodied face let out a loud roar as he pinned the other earth dragon to the ground, jaws digging into his opponent's neck, drawing quite a lot of blood. Cynder scowled, storming up into the ring, before shoving the dragon off the top of the other with her horns, and another shout. "Break it up _now_ , you two!"

The dragons scrambled to their feet, and looked at Cynder with shock on their faces, and the room went dreadfully quiet. Cynder stared at the dragons, bleeding and broken, for a moment, before she took a breath and began to scold them. "My _first day_ and things are _already_ falling apart! This is _despicable_ behaviour for dragons like you! You should be training and serving the city in its time of darkness, not fooling around and getting into childish fights!" Cynder scolded, pausing briefly before she continued. "I expect better than this from you! You can't afford to be breaking apart and breaking into personal fights like this! What will those in the outside world think of you?! Those who are meant to _protect_ them?!"

"But Rokem said I was 'a wimp like my brother'. My brother died two days ago!" the earth dragon with the bloodied eye protested, turning to the other dragon, Rokem, with a resentful gleam in his eyes. "And then he goes and says _that_ about him, and starts calling me names and disrespecting me and my brother?!"

Rokem scoffed, sneering. "You were too scared to…!"

" _Silence_!" Cynder bellowed, and the two dragons shut up, surprised at the power behind her voice. "Never in all my years, even as the Terror of the Skies, have I _ever_ seen members of the Warfang Army act like this! Disrespecting others, getting into physical fights over silly things?!"

"My brother is _not_ a 'silly thing', Cynder!" the earth dragon growled.

"I'm not finished yet!" Cynder snapped.

Rokem started laughing. "Nice job, Krakor." he chuckled.

"Rokem, enough!" Cynder said, turning to Rokem, who immediately stopped laughing and looked at his paws, unable to continue his hold on Cynder's gaze. "That was uncalled for, picking on Krakor like that."

"It was meant to be a joke." Rokem croaked.

"Well _think_ before you say these things! His brother died two days ago! The same day the guardians and hundreds of others died!" Cynder scowled. "That was a grim day for lots of people."

"I didn't know Krakor's brother had died."

"Then why did you fight?"

"I was defending myself! Krakor was the one who attacked me, the little b…!"

"And he _shouldn't_ have! But will continuing the fight do any better? Did you even apologise?"

"No." Krakor answered for Rokem.

"I wasn't asking you." Cynder deadpanned, glaring at Krakor before returning her gaze to Rokem. "Tell me, did you apologise?"

"No." Rokem replied.

"So?" Cynder asked.

Rokem looked up at Cynder, confusion in his eyes. Cynder huffed. "Well?" she asked, nodding her head in Krakor's direction.

Rokem sighed, lowering his head again before he looked up to Krakor. "Sorry, Krakor. I didn't realise what I said did to you."

Krakor didn't reply. Cynder turned to him. "And?" she asked him.

With a groan, Krakor turned to Rokem. "Thank you. And I'm sorry for attacking you."

There was silence for a while. "Good." Cynder said. "Now I want you two to stay away from each other for the rest of the day. Rest up a little bit before you begin training. And this better not happen again."

"Understood." Krakor and Rokem said in unison.

With that, Cynder turned and left. _Unbelievable…_ she thought as she left the silenced room. It was her first day on the job, and things were already going wrong. _Am I just a curse to everything I touch?_

* * *

 **Okay, back with another chapter of _Demonised_ , and things are still going badly for Cynder. Electrika's coming into the Warfang Army, and Cynder's accepted the registration documents, meaning she's in. What are your thoughts on that? But with Electrika coming into a place where Cynder will work every day doesn't mean much good at the moment.**

 **Also, I want to say this. Last chapter was pretty brutal. It always was going to be, with the guardians dying, but I think Oren's death was the most brutal one to be honest, and was explained in a lot of detail. Last chapter especially brought out the M rating of the story. I've had one person (don't want to say any names) bail out due to how brutal it was getting, and if you're in the same boat where you feel you want to leave, by all means, please do. I'd much rather you remain in a healthy mindset rather than be affected negatively by this. If you are enjoying it, then keep on reading, but if at any point you need to leave, please do.**

 ** _Demonised_** **will be as dark and brutal as it gets. Part 3 is fairly close in terms of dark themes, but the others are all slightly stepped down somewhat. Part 4 contains some supernatural themes, and Part 5 utilises a few more suggestive themes (implicit, so don't worry too much if the explicit stuff isn't up your alley, 'coz it's not up mine either). Part 2 is a mix of all of them. The _Purple Legacy_ series as a whole will remain M for dark themes, violence and gore. In my opinion, the way I would sort the _Purple Legacy_ series in terms of intensity, from most intense to least intense, would be Part 1, 3, 2, 4, 5. Again, that's just my opinion, so yours may vary in this sense.**

 **So if you all made it through last chapter, congratulations, but there's more coming, especially by the time the climax rolls by. It's a big one as well, taking up five chapters, one of which is about 11K words. It's going to be a big feat for anyone who gets past _Demonised_ , so I congratulate all of you for getting past the first decent hurdle of the story, even if it didn't seem like much to you, because I know it will be for some people.**

 **…**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **Yeah, I killed off the guardians pretty quickly. I was kind of annoyed after writing the first draft of last chapter though, because the next day, about two fanfics I read killed off at least one of the guardians in a big battle. But I think it was pretty good nonetheless.**

 **And yes, the voices Cynder had been hearing _had_ been because of the Sound Gem. I noticed that the theme is kind of lost for a bit in _Demonised_ (planning mistake, my fault), but it is important in Part 2.**

 **As for Sparx and Hunter, I'm just going to be evil and say, 'you'll have to wait and see…'**

 **…**

 **Okay, big A/N over. Back to 3D modelling and YouTube and attempting to beat 4/20 on _FNAF 1_ after this (had five attempts today of 4/20 and got 5 AM every time), so I will see you all next chapter.**


	23. Chapter 22: Change

The next day, Cynder slept in until noon. She slept badly once again the night before, her sleep haunted by nightmares of the past few days. Even her nightmares of the Terror of the Skies had begun to return, but in these nightmares, _Spyro_ was the one behind her strings, not Malefor and Gaul. Even _Forzen_ had haunted her dreams. The little dragon, her son, crying out in fear. Screaming. _Shrieking_. Crying out for his mother in terrible howls that grated against her ears. Cynder hated the sight of it. She just wanted to get it out of her head. She wanted to forget her old life, forget her mate, forget her _son_ , and start anew. These nightmares weren't helping.

She figured that getting a quick start to the day will get the dreams out of her mind. It was only after she left the house that Cynder realised it was noon. She sighed. Half the day had already gone. Rushing off to the barracks, without even stopping to grab some breakfast, Cynder prepared herself for another hard-working day.

When she walked in, however, the training room was almost empty, only three or four dragons training and exercising. Cynder looked around with shock, walking forward. "Where's everyone else?" Cynder asked the dragons.

A fire dragon with one eye, named Chol, paused what he was doing and answered her. "Everyone's in the elemental training room. The two new recruits arrived today, and they're being tested by Vetar. Everybody left to watch. I think he planned on getting them in a duel at one point, to see how they fared against each other." Chol explained.

"Have they just started?" Cynder asked.

"Actually no. They've been gone for about fifty minutes." an electric dragon, Lagath, muttered.

"Okay, so I've missed a fair bit. Have you gone in to check on them or have you stayed out here for the whole time?" Cynder asked.

"I've been falling behind on my training recently, so I needed to get back into the swing of things. I think Chol and the others are the same." Lagath said, shrugging, before returning to clawing at his training dummy.

Cynder mumbled an acknowledgement, before leaving the room and turning towards the elemental training room. Loud cheers and shouts came from behind the door. She opened the door and walked in.

It was not a training session.

It wasn't even a _duel_.

Electrika stood on one of the training rings, shouting out at everyone, while the rest of the dragons cheered. Or, most of them anyway. Almost immediately, Jupal walked up to her from the crowd. Kryton, the other newcomer, was with him, a shocked expression on his face. "Jupal, what's going on?" Cynder asked.

"Madness, that's what. The two newcomers just finished their duel, and Electrika won. After winning, she decided to give a, in her words, 'little speech'. To me, it seems like an act of rebellion." Jupal scoffed.

"I have no idea what's going on. This escalated too quickly for me to catch up." Kryton stammered, shaking his head with wide eyes. "Does this usually happen?"

"A rebellion? No, never." Jupal murmured.

"Who agrees with me?!" Electrika cried, and Cynder turned her eyes to the electric dragoness. Electrika didn't seem to make any notice of her.

"What's Electrika wanting?" Cynder asked, struggling to hear her own voice as more cheers burst from the crowd.

"She wants to lead an expedition to invade Dark Peak." Jupal deadpanned, sounding uninterested.

"She wants to invade _Dark Peak_?! Is she _insane_?!" Cynder exclaimed.

"Apparently she is."

Cynder let out a growl as she needed to take things into her own paws once again. "ENOUGH!" she roared, and there was silence.

She walked through the crowd and up onto the training ring in front of Electrika, where she stared angrily down at the smaller, younger dragoness. "Cynder?" Electrika scoffed. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you're with these guys?"

"I _work_ here, Electrika. As a matter of fact, I signed your registration papers." Cynder deadpanned.

"Don't be stupid, Cynder. No one would trust a murderer like you." Electrika scowled, a dark sneer creeping up across her lips.

Cynder's gaze darkened. "The _guardians_ did. They _entrusted_ me to be the general and supervisor of this place. Logron and many others here trust me as well." she muttered.

Electrika reared her head in a laugh. "The guardians aren't _here_ anymore, Cynder! And I'm sure these warriors here know well enough what you used to be, as they probably went up against you at _some_ point in their lives!"

To Cynder's chagrin, some of the dragons mumbled in agreement, but she chose to ignore it. There were other issues to address here, starting with Electrika's disrespect for the dead. "You _dare_ speak about the guardians like that one more time and you'll be sorry, understood?" Cynder shouted, to get no answer except a rolling of the eyes. "The guardians died with _honour_. They knew me much more personally than you _ever_ did! So why don't you go along with their judgement? They've had much more experience in knowing what to think of others, and if they trust me, than I'm sure that makes me trustworthy!"

"You killed my parents."

"I _know_ what I did!"

"Then get out of here, you murderer."

"Stop telling me how to do my job!"

"I'm…"

"Shut the _hell_ up, Electrika! I'm not finished." Cynder paused to take a deep breath, before continuing what she was originally going to say. "You're a newcomer. You don't have experience. You don't know how to lead a battalion, and you sure as _hell_ don't know how to fight an army of dark dragons. So, leading a bunch of warriors to Dark Peak is a death wish."

"Well why can't _someone else_ lead it?"

"Because going to Dark Peak is a _death wish_! Did I not just _say_ that?! We don't know what it's like there!"

"And you don't think _going_ there will give us that opportunity? Besides, they've invaded Warfang twice already."

"You don't get it, do you, Electrika? War is dangerous. We can't just go wandering into the enemy's camp without an idea on what we're doing. We need to be well planned, and we need to understand how to kill off any of the dark dragons should we be attacked, which is almost certain. We still don't know much about our enemy, so until then, we practise with magically created opponents until we figure out ways to fight against the shadowclaws and venomfangs."

"Lots of other people like the idea of going."

"Well we're _not_ going. Not yet, anyway. When the time comes, we _will_ go to Dark Peak, but not in the near future. I'd probably say, to a war of this extent, and with the types of enemies we're dealing with, we'd have to wait about nine to twelve months."

"A whole year? Really, Cynder, no one's going to want to wait _twelve months_ to attack those who attacked us."

A few cheers rose in the air, but some of them were only half-hearted, and most of the dragons who were roaring in agreement earlier were silenced. Cynder didn't know whether they felt they didn't want to betray Warfang, or if what she had said earlier had brought sense into their minds. Cynder looked around. "Alright, go off and do your own thing. Electrika and I will talk alone." she ordered. "And I want no more talk about going to Dark Peak, alright?"

She was answered by mumbles of agreement. She turned to Electrika, who was glaring daggers at her. "You can't tell me what to do." Electrika scoffed.

"I am in charge of this place, so technically, I can. You and I will leave this room and talk in private. You understand me?" Cynder said in a low, dark growl.

No answer.

"I said, do you understand me?" Cynder repeated with a little more force, speaking through gritted teeth.

Electrika let a growl rumble from her throat as she nodded, glaring angrily at her. "Good. Follow me." Cynder said, turning and walking off, looking behind her to make sure the nineteen-year-old electric dragoness was following her. They walked out of the elemental training room, surrounded by others who were going into other rooms, and Cynder turned down the corridor towards her office. She turned around once she was inside and saw Electrika follow her, glaring angrily at her.

They stared at each other for a while, before Electrika spoke. "What?" she spat, quite literally as spittle flew from her lips, her yellow eyes dark with malice and hate.

"When I signed your registration paper, I must admit I hesitated, given our past; the things you've said to me, the things you've said _about_ me, both behind my back and in my face." Cynder growled quietly. "But I wanted to put our rivalry aside and start anew. Plus, it wouldn't be fair on you if I declined you based off our personal affairs. That's why I signed it.

"But now I think maybe I was wrong. Maybe I _shouldn't_ have signed that paper. You have no understanding of the dangers that war brings upon us, and what we need to do to ensure our safety, as well as the safety of the citizens of Warfang. _Especially_ of the citizens of Warfang. That's our job. To protect them. But you're impulsive, you're reckless, you're _rebellious_ , and you only think about yourself.

"So I suggest that if you want to stay here, you behave, and adhere by how we do things here. Those around you will help you, and you have Kryton as well. And I would _gladly_ help you out. But not if things are going to go this way. I'll give you _one_ more warning if something like this happens again, but after that, you're out, because after what I saw just now, you're a danger to all of us. Got it?"

Again, Electrika didn't answer Cynder. The dark purple dragoness was beginning to lose her patience as a roar bubbled up in her throat. She tried to suppress it. "Answer me when I speak to you, Electrika! Do you understand any of what I've been saying?!" she shouted.

Electrika jumped backwards at Cynder's sudden outburst. She recomposed herself, clearing her throat. "Yes, Cynder." the nineteen-year-old muttered, her words slurred together by her mumbling.

"Speak up so I can understand you."

"Yes!" Electrika snapped, before clearing her throat again and repeating herself calmly. "Yes, Cynder. I understand."

"Good. Now out you hop. And I'd better not hear any more of this Dark Peak nonsense from you." Cynder ordered, and Electrika turned and walked out of her office, down the hall, and into the elemental training room. Cynder followed Electrika out into the foyer, watching her as she entered the room.

 _What am I going to do with her?_ Cynder thought.

* * *

A week passed. Electrika had been behaving herself, and Kryton was learning and adapting well; Cynder was happy to have things finally going much better than they had been. She was getting into a few training sessions as well to keep her skills up and to help improve the skills of other dragons, and Logron had found some spare time to have his duel with Cynder, as it had been postponed after Tyrax's horrible experience of Cynder's fear element, followed by the events of the siege and many other issues that had come up.

Today, she was giving every dragon a big run-through of the two types of dark dragons in Spyro's army in the magic training room, explaining the anatomy of the dragons and where their weak spots were. She then decided to form two shadowclaws and a venomfang in the middle of one of the rings to show everyone else what a real battle with the creatures looked like, or a simulated version of it, at least. Cynder had gotten out of the fight with a cut wrist and a red eye, having been shouldered in the left eye by a shadowclaw. She had killed all three dragons quite quickly, and took some time to explain to everyone after the fight what she had done, showing them the corpses and what they were all looking for (it was pretty gruesome to do so nonetheless; it seemed much like a biology class during that part of it).

Now she was getting volunteers in the rings, one at a time, one ring dedicated to shadowclaws, the other dedicated to the venomfangs. She had brought a few moles, panthers and dragons from the infirmary to help if there were injuries, and if there were any poisoning issues, Cynder had her own poison element ready to absorb the acid.

They were taking it slowly, one shadowclaw or venomfang in the ring at once, to get the warriors used to the creatures they would eventually be going up against. Cynder had allowed Tyrax, Vetar and Blitz the privilege to go up against two shadowclaws if they wished, given that they had already fought shadowclaws and venomfangs in real life, _and_ made it out alive. Tyrax and Vetar had accepted the offer, but Blitz wanted to get used to the feeling first, instead of being thrown into the fray like he had earlier.

Right now, Apata and Jupal were in the rings, Apata fighting a shadowclaw, and Jupal fighting a venomfang. Apata was doing well. She had managed to deal quite a lot of deep cuts on the shadowclaw, but she couldn't get close enough to the dragon's chest or neck without getting hurt. She was unscathed so far. Jupal, on the other hand, had been clawed across the right flank, and he was spilling blood, but he had been quick to dodge when the venomfang released a glob of poison at him. Cynder had even decided to create large see-through walls with the magic of the training ring so that no stray shots of poison would fly anyway and infect someone else. Cynder smiled as Apata suddenly lunged at the shadowclaw, pinning it to the ground, a flailing mess of limbs with its chest facing Apata. She raised her claws and plunged them into the shadowclaw's chest. There was the sound of a shatter as the crystal inside the chest was destroyed, and the shadowclaw fell still. After a while, the magical hold on the shadowclaw was released, causing it to disintegrate into nothing.

Apata stepped out of the ring, beaming, and Cynder congratulated her. She looked to Jupal, who was beginning to show signs that he was struggling with the venomfang. "Are you alright?!" Apata cried.

"I'm fine!" Jupal replied, ducking as a glob of poison flew over his head, before he raised his head up, shoving his horns into the venomfang's neck, skewering it atop his head. Jupal quickly threw the venomfang down onto the ground with a heavy slam, and Jupal hacked at the venomfang's head before it could recover. The venomfang quickly jerked, throwing its head high into to the air with a spray of its own green blood, slamming its horns into Jupal's chest, blood flowing from the wound as he flew through the air. He landed on the ground with a heavy thud, winding him. Jupal quickly recomposed himself however, before he swiped at the venomfang, which was also now standing. He managed to catch onto the flesh on the venomfang's neck, but it wasn't bothered. It let out a roar, showing green flesh inside its mouth. It shot rapid globs of poison out of its mouth, and Jupal leapt around frantically, trying to dodge them. The venomfang then closed its mouth and lunged at Jupal, who swung his tailblade in a huge arc, and he felt his tailblade cut through heaps of flesh. The venomfang let out a shriek as it fell to the ground, a large, bleeding cut across its face where its eyes would have been. The venomfang continued to shriek in pain, green blood flowing from its eye sockets, giving it a horrific possessed appearance, before it was silenced as Jupal finished his job at hacking through its forehead, and then the venomfang fell silent. Jupal turned to Apata with a smile. "See? I told you I was fine!"

Jupal stepped out of the ring as both the venomfang corpse and the wall disintegrated. He walked towards Apata and they nuzzled each other lovingly. They had begun dating three days ago, Jupal being the one to ask her out. Cynder couldn't help but watch upon them with a mix of happiness and jealousy. She was happy for them, but she was jealous because she had lost her love to the darkness. Spyro. The name echoed in her head. She had loved him so much, and now he was gone, changed completely. They even had a son, who she believed was gone. Corrupted or dead, she didn't know, but she had made the decision to believe that Forzen was dead. Despite it being a few weeks ago, it was still a fresh wound, and a big one at that. To see two dragons she worked with closely showing such affection like that pained her a lot.

She shut the thoughts away as the next two dragons stepped into the rings. Electrika had walked into the ring designated to the shadowclaws. Manriel, a sturdy ice dragon with a huge amount of horns and spikes crowning his head, had stepped into the ring designated to the venomfangs. Cynder looked at them with a neutral expression. "Are you ready?" she asked, receiving nods. "Alright, be warned that this _is_ harder than it looks, and much more dangerous than it looks, especially the venomfang. I'm sure Tyrax, Vetar and Blitz can agree to that."

"Absolutely." Vetar said.

"Alright, can we get on with it, please?" Electrika complained.

"Calm yourself, Electrika." Cynder said with a dangerous tone in her voice, before recomposing herself and saying one simple word.

"Begin."

The shadowclaw appeared in front of Electrika, and the venomfang appeared in front of Manriel. See-through walls also appeared around the ice dragon and the venomfang. Electrika was quick to attack. She leapt at the shadowclaw quickly, without thinking, and almost _immediately_ got a claw to the right flank. She winced in pain as she staggered backwards so she was a few metres away from the shadowclaw, felling the blood rolling down her flank. She turned and saw the shadowclaw rushing towards her, and she dodged, the shadowclaw's jagged fangs biting down on thin air. Electrika flung her tailblade forward, thrusting it into the shadowclaw's hind right leg. It growled in pain, before turning towards Electrika, snarling. It released a large stream of black fire, and Electrika ran backwards, shouting in shock. The smoke around her dispersed, and she remained with a small burn on her left cheek. No blood vessels were popped, but the yellow scales had peeled off the flesh, which was bright red and swollen. It was obviously painful too.

Manriel was doing well, too. It was at the time Electrika thrust her tailblade into the shadowclaw's leg that the first move was made by the venomfang; the two dragons had spent a few seconds circling each other to start off with. The venomfang lunged at Manriel, who dodged nimbly, quickly turning around and swinging his tailblade around, leaving a long, clean cut across the venomfang's back. It didn't do anything to the dragon, however, as it turned and snarled, breathing a glob of poison at Manriel.

Manriel was too slow to dodge, and he was hit square in the chest.

Manriel fell to the ground with a gurgled shout, and the venomfang leapt on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Cynder's voice cut through the air. "EVERYONE STOP!" she screamed, and everything in the rings disappeared, including Electrika's shadowclaw.

"Come on, Cynder! I was just about to…!" Electrika cut herself short when she saw Manriel writhing on the ground, foam forming around his lips as small, strangled shouts burst from his throat in amongst weak, rapid, hoarse breaths.

The poison had gotten into his system quickly, and Cynder was at his side quick as a flash. "This may hurt." she warned, thrusting her claws deep into Manriel's chest and prying it open, red blood spraying everywhere. Manriel let out a strangled cry. Cynder shoved her paws into Manriel's bloody chest and called upon her poison element.

She felt the venom rushing into her body. Manriel continued to cry out in pain, and she looked down at his face, wet with tears, eyes red, and jaws open wide as he screamed and fought for breath, foaming at the mouth. "Look at me. Look at me, Manriel." she said. "You'll be fine. Trust me."

Manriel replied with a loud gurgling cry, turning his teary cyan eyes towards Cynder. "You'll be fine. This is why I was here." Cynder said soothingly.

"It… It _hurts_!" Manriel gurgled as pink, almost red spittle flew from his foamy lips. He let out another scream before he spoke again, his voice bubbly as his mouth filled with massive amounts of pink saliva. "Dear ancestors, it hurts like _hell_!"

"You'll be fine, Manriel. It's only temporary. I'm right here for you. I'll be right here next to you. I'm getting rid of the poison that's trying to fight its way into your blood. You'll be fine. I promise." Cynder replied.

"Th-th-th-thank you!" the ice dragon cried again, before he let out heavy sobs that wracked his body. Cynder could feel his body moving around her paws. After a little while, the stream of poison stopped. She had absorbed every bit of it. She waited a few more seconds just to make sure, before she pulled her paws out of Manriel's chest, her paws caked in vast amounts of thick, red blood.

Manriel let out a scream as blood began to flow out of the wound like a fountain. Cynder's paws had originally stopped the blood flow, but there was nothing to stop it now. "Red gems! Red gems, please! And heaps of them!" Cynder ordered, and the medical crew from the infirmary rushed into a frenzy, grabbing red gems and bandages. Cynder turned to Manriel. "You'll be fine. You just need to rest for a while, alright?"

Manriel nodded, before he let out another cry of pain. The medical crew got to him quickly, and Cynder stood up and padded away, leaving bloody pawprints on the ground as she stepped backwards. She looked around and saw the shocked faces on everyone else watching. "This is why I was here. Venomfangs are incredibly dangerous, and their poison can kill quickly, much quicker than my own can. I watched Oren die from the poison; I couldn't get to him in time." Cynder said, gulping as the memory of the incredibly gory death resurfaced in her mind.

Suddenly, the door to the entrance of the room opened, and a flustered earth dragoness stuck her head through the door. "Yes?" Cynder asked. She didn't know this dragoness.

"Miss Cynder, Logron wants you. Now." the dragoness said, and Cynder's face hardened.

"How come?" Cynder asked.

"I don't know, but Logron said it was urgent."

Cynder sighed, turning around to address everyone else. "Alright, you're free to do your own thing. If you wish to continue training in here, you may, but _only shadowclaws_ will be permitted if you want to fight against dark dragons. Venomfangs are just _too_ dangerous to be training against without me; you all saw how quickly their venom affected Manriel. He'd be dead in seconds had I not been here. Vetar will be in charge while I'm gone." Cynder said.

Vetar nodded respectfully to Cynder before she padded over to the earth dragoness. "I'll take you to Logron." the dragoness said, her voice quivering.

Cynder took a quick moment to wash Manriel's blood off her paws first. Then they walked out into the streets, and turned into the Warfang Temple, where Logron was staying temporarily to take over the duties of a guardian for the meantime (as he was the main supervisor of the Warfang Army underneath the guardians, which kind of made him like their second-in-command). Logron was waiting for them, as were four other young dragons, in their mid-thirties. "What's going on here?" Cynder asked.

"All four of these young dragons had a strange dream last night. Only two of them have ever met, but only twice before this. They're all strangers, and yet they had exactly the same dream, and they managed to find each other and talk about it before coming to consult me." Logron explained.

Cynder looked at the four dragons. One of them spoke, a young electric dragon with long, pointy indigo horns and a slightly squared snout, although it was still mostly rounded. "Hi." the dragon said. His voice was a slightly higher pitch than most male dragons of his age. "I'm, uh… I'm Lagenon."

The other three dragons looked to Logron with uncertainty. Logron turned to them with a smile. "Yeah, introduce yourselves. You and Cynder will definitely be seeing a lot more of each other sometime down the track." Logron said to them. Cynder wondered what he meant by that. And what did Logron mean by _strange dreams_?

The fire dragon was the next one to speak up. His scales were dark red, and the crest on top of his head was large and coloured a vibrant blood-orange. One of his eyes were red, while the other was orange, like his crest. "Hello, Cynder. My name is Ash." His voice was deep, but not anywhere _near_ as deep as Terrador's was. Cynder suddenly shuddered as the name entered her head.

"I'm Frélix." the ice dragon said. He looked slightly similar to Cyril, except his bottom jaw was slightly thinner, and he was more muscular. His scales were also slightly darker, but his eyes were the same piercing cyan colour of Cyril's. Frélix was slightly restless, fiddling with his claws as he looked around nervously, his composure rivalling what his body structure portrayed.

"And I'm Torialis." the earth dragon greeted. "Nice to meet you." He was the only one to say something along those lines. Torialis was polite and kind, and appeared to be the youngest of the four dragons. Torialis was quite heavily built, like most earth dragons, although slightly thinner than Frélix, who was the muscliest of the four dragons. Torialis' voice was deep and came out almost like a growl. A polite growl. Cynder scoffed inwardly. Politeness and growling weren't normally something she would put together.

"Hello, Lagenon, Ash, Frélix, Torialis. Nice to meet you all, too." Cynder said, sitting down next to Logron. Ash winced as she replied with 'nice to meet you', as if he had realised he had forgotten to be polite. "I'm sure you all know me, but just in case, I'm Cynder."

"Yeah, you used to be the…" Ash was cut off by a loud whack as Torialis slapped the fire drake in the back of the head with his clubbed tail. "Sorry." Ash immediately apologised.

Cynder knew what he was going to say, and she almost cursed him aloud for doing so, but she kept the frustration in and, hesitantly, replied, "It's alright."

Torialis scoffed, and Ash brought his paw up to rub the back of his head. Cynder looked around and suddenly noticed something slightly peculiar about the dragons that had joined her and Logron. Their elements. Fire, earth, lightning and ice. Cynder had a faint idea what this was about, but she didn't voice her thoughts aloud in case she was wrong. "So… tell me about these… dreams… of yours, guys." Cynder said.

Frélix was the one who spoke. "Well, I woke up in this really weird library place like… half-way through the night. The others did, too, but these were all at different times. Anyway, I heard this voice call me by name. I whirled around, kind of scared, I guess, because no one was there. Just this… disembodied voice." Frélix explained, slowing down at the end, sounding unsure of himself.

"Oh, oh! Can I tell Cynder what the voice said?" Ash asked excitedly, stamping his left forepaw on the ground. "It said the same thing to all of us!"

"Sure, whatever." Frélix groaned, rolling his eyes.

Cynder turned her eyes to Ash. "Alright, so this voice… it was really weird, right, and it was really old and raspy, like it belonged to someone who was a thousand years old!" Cynder noticed Lagenon and Torialis roll their eyes, too. Cynder suppressed a chuckle. Ash was sure energetic, and it seemed that the other three dragons didn't seem to like that characteristic about him, despite them only meeting recently. "Anyway, the voice spoke in a really loud voice, and it kind of echoed around us. It sounded very wise. 'You are chosen!'" Ash mimicked the 'old, raspy voice' that had spoken to him and the others. "'You are chosen!' the voice told me. I was ready to leap out at the voice, and I was like, 'Who are you? Are you an ancestor?' And then I was like, 'If you're an ancestor, am I dead?' And then I was like…"

"Alright, we get it!" Frélix groaned. "Just get on with it!"

"Do you want me to continue?" Lagenon deadpanned.

"No. Ash is telling us a story." Cynder said, a slightly scolding tone in her voice. "Let him talk."

"Thank you, Miss Cynder. Anyway, after I asked if the voice was an ancestor, the voice just laughed at me, and said in a loud, booming voice, 'I am the Chronicler, and you are chosen.' And I was like, 'Whoa, this is the Chronicler? I'm about to meet the Chronicler!'" Ash stamped on the ground again as he said this. "He never showed himself, though, but he then said to meet him with the other chosen ones, who turned out to be these guys, in a week's time at the White Isle, wherever that is. And then I woke up."

"So, let me get this straight." Cynder said. "You heard the Chronicler speaking to you?"

"Yes." the four dragons said in unison.

"The Chronicler hasn't shown himself in like… eleven years, I think it was, back during the Night of Eternal Darkness. I don't know who the Chronicler is or how to get to him, because the Chronicler revealed himself to Spyro." Cynder shuddered at the mention of his name, and she said it with slightly more malice than intended. The dragons' eyes widened at the hate in her growl. "But I do know that the Chronicler is a very important deity, close to the ancestors, that watches over the Books of Time, which contain every single bit of history. The Chronicler also lives in this White Isle place, and, if I'm correct, you may be gone for a while. It'll probably take about a week to get there, and a week to get back."

"But how do we get there?" Leganon asked.

"I've heard that you can get there by following Adrano." Logron said. "Although, I, as well as most other dragons, have never made the trip, due to it being too long, or because lots of people dismiss it as a myth. I believe it's true, but I've also heard that the leviathans that guard the White Isle will attack those who are not granted access to the White Isle, another reason why I haven't attempted to make the trip, as leviathans can be pretty deadly. They're big enough and strong enough to bite a dragon in half if it has to. But the Chronicler's visited you in your dreams, as well as asked you to go to the White Isle, you should be safe."

"I think Spyro made the trip over the ocean on the back of one." Cynder said.

"Anyway, you guys had better get packing. It sounds like you've got a week-long trip ahead of you." Logron said.

"Alright. Bye, then, Cynder and Logron." Torialis said, standing up and turning to walk off, as did Leganon, Frélix and Ash.

Logron turned to Cynder. "I have an idea what this is about." he said when the young dragons were out of sight.

"So do I. I figured it out after a while when I realised it was a fire, electric, earth, and ice dragon sitting with us, as well as the fact that they all shared practically similar dreams, and were told by the Chronicler that they're 'chosen'." Cynder said. "I think the ancestors have chosen them to become the next guardians."

"As do I. They have a lot of growth to do for a job like that, especially Ash by the looks of it. I'm concerned for them, but I think they'll do well. I'm just glad that we're… we're getting guardians again."

"Same with me."

* * *

 **Hey all. It's been a while, but I'm back! School's just started up again, and I had camp on the third day, but it was _really_ fun. I've also been doing a bit more modelling and figured out how to rig (or… most of rigging – I still have to figure out how to turn my rig into an IK rig). I've been editing a fair few videos for YouTube as well.**

 **But now we have new spots for the guardians! What do you think of them so far? And what of Electrika's plan to go to Dark Peak?**

 **Anyway, I'll see you all around, however long it may take for me to do the next chapter. I'm going to try and get another chapter for _Bitten_ up soon as well, so if you're reading that, keep a close lookout for it.**


	24. Chapter 23: Dark Peak

That night, Cynder was woken up in the middle of the night by scurrying footsteps and whispers that failed to be quiet. She could also make out the clanking of metal armour, and by the sounds of the footsteps, the dragons wearing the armour were trying to move in a way that the armour wouldn't make too much noise. "Shush! We might not be heard but be careful! We don't want to get in trouble!" one of the voices whispered.

 _My window's wide open, you idiots, and you're not doing a good job at staying quiet._ Cynder thought, slowly standing up and stalking silently around to the front door of the house, where two dragons were sneaking about down the street. One of them was an earth dragon, and the other was an ice dragon. They both looked quite young. She looked at the spines that ran from their foreheads to their tails and could see by the shape and number of spines that they were about thirty or forty, a little older than her. Cynder also noticed the armour and recalled the clanking of it earlier, but a sudden suspicion began to form in her head. _Why are they wearing armour?_

So Cynder decided to follow them down the streets, stepping lightly and slowly. She was far enough that she could still hear the whispers of the two dragons, but she couldn't hear them word for word. Eventually, they stopped and groaned. Cynder waited and listened around the corner of another building. "We were told to meet them here!" the earth dragon groaned, louder than intended. Cynder didn't interrupt. She wanted to hear what this was about.

"What time is it?" the ice dragon asked.

"Just past midnight." the earth dragon replied.

"Blast! We had to be here _before_ midnight! They _left_ at midnight!"

Cynder decided now was the time to press them for answers. "Who left? And where are they going?" she asked, walking out of the darkness.

"Oh! Cynder! I thought you were asleep!" the ice dragon exclaimed with a jump, suddenly seeming nervous.

"I damn well should be. And so should you." Cynder growled. "What are you doing out here, especially with armour on?"

"Well, we _were_ on the list to go to Dark Peak tonight, so…"

The earth dragon slapped the ice dragon in the head with his clubbed tail, silencing him. "Shut up, you damned lizard!"

"Dark Peak?! They still _went_?!" Cynder snapped, managing to pick up on what the ice dragon had said.

The earth dragon sighed, knowing they had been caught. "Yeah. Electrika, and Tyrax, and…"

" _Tyrax_ has gone?! That little piece of sh…!"

"Hey, hey! No need to get angry!" the ice dragon cried.

"Did you not hear me tell everyone earlier that no one was to go to Dark Peak?!" Cynder growled, and the two dragons nodded. "I'm surprised no one had the sense to stop these idiots!"

"No one else knew except for those who wanted to go. Electrika made sure of that." the earth dragon replied.

"Alright. The both of you, go home _now_! I'm gonna have to go and get them all out of there!" Cynder scowled.

"We can come with you and help!" the ice dragon pleaded.

"NO!" Cynder shouted, before taking to the skies.

As she got closer to Dark Peak, she almost collided into another dragon flying back her way. She recognised him from when she had scolded Electrika about setting this up. He was covered in his own blood, and his left eye socket streamed with dark blood that glistened in the moonlight. Something else dangled from the eye socket, and Cynder realised it was his eyeball, which was still attached only by the optic nerve, drooping down over his cheek. "Cynder! I'm sorry! It's not what we thought it was! They're too strong; there's too many of them!" the dragon sobbed, tears streaming from his good eye, blood from his bad one. "Don't go! Please! They're as good as dead!"

"I'm not going to leave them to die, you _coward_!" Cynder scowled, continuing on her path to Dark Peak. The dragon cried out to her, his pleas getting fainter as she flew away from him.

She entered Dark Peak through a large hole in the side of the mountain, which she assumed was the entrance. As soon as she entered, she saw armoured dragons fighting for their lives as huge amounts of shadowclaws and venomfangs roamed the caves inside the mountain. There were even dragons in chains, beaten, bloodied and maimed, that were trembling in fear, trying to do their jobs in amongst the bloody violence: carrying large slabs of stone and large piles of glowing gemstones, or mining deep holes into the mountain. Cynder quickly realised they were slaves.

She looked around for Electrika or Tyrax, or someone else that she knew, before she was tackled to the ground by… she didn't know what it was. It had no scales. Its flesh was pink, almost red, and the pumping of its heart and veins was visible through its outer coating of flesh. Its eyes were much like those of the shadowclaws and venomfangs, except the irises were a hideous yellow. Long, jagged teeth shot out of its gums, which were round and lumpy, exposed from its peeled back lips, and long strings of saliva hung from its jaws. The dragon let out a loud snarl, and raised its head, but Cynder rolled over, trapping the fleshy dragon underneath her claws, before raising her claws and striking the dragon across the neck. _Huge_ amounts of blood spilled from the wound, and the dragon died almost instantly. _It dies easier than the damn shadowclaws and venomfangs._ Cynder noticed. _But what's the catch?_

She didn't have time to figure it out as she felt poison hit her in the neck. She absorbed the acid and turned to where the shot came from. Two venomfangs were rushing towards her, snarling hideously, venom dripping from their fangs. Cynder let out a siren scream, and one of them fell to the ground, immobilised, while the other leapt at her. The venomfang bit down hard around her neck but Cynder thrashed about, throwing the venomfang off her. She pinned the venomfang to the floor, hacking wildly at its forehead, dark green blood spraying everywhere. The venomfang finally gave a dying scream, before it released one final glob of poison at a dragoness passing by. In chains, carrying a load of rocks on her back. The fire dragoness fell to the ground with a scream, as the heavy rocks fell down on top of her. She thrashed wildly for a few seconds, before going limp. Her foreleg twitched one more time before she was still. Cynder noticed that the dragoness was extremely malnourished, her form thin and bony, and lips dry and cracked, a few teeth missing from inside her open mouth. Her lolling tongue had even been pierced, a large hole in the pink muscle. Cynder's heart sank. This was a slave, killed without reason by a random glob of poison from the venomfang.

With a gasp she remembered the other venomfang. She turned, immediately as she heard a scream. An armoured dragon, one she didn't know, but had seen once around the barracks, lay foaming, writhing, _screaming_ , underneath the venomfang that had recovered from its shock quite quickly. Venom dripped down its lips, and it turned towards Cynder with an evil grin as it licked its lips, smearing venom all over its mouth. The venomfang turned towards Cynder and began to walk off its victim until it was smashed to the side by a clubbed tail.

Tyrax roared as he leapt on top of the downed venomfang, clawing at its forehead. Cynder ran forward and decapitated the venomfang for Tyrax. They gave each other a brief look, before they turned to the soldier that the venomfang had poisoned earlier. But by the time they got to the infected dragon, he was already dead, eyes staring sightlessly at the roof of the cave, mouth open and tongue lolling, and already reeking very badly. Tyrax looked to Cynder with fear and shock on his face. "This is why I said not to come, you idiot!" Cynder shouted.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know! I just wanted to get revenge on those who attacked us! For those who took the guardians, and many warriors and other lives from us!" Tyrax whimpered. "I didn't think it would be this bad when I signed up to come here!"

There was a scream. Cynder turned and saw a savagely beaten dragon, a slave, covered in blood and missing a limb and half his tail, fall to the ground. Shorok stood over the slave, tailblade covered in the dragon's blood. Shorok looked up and his eyes met with Cynder's. "You'll regret coming here!" Shorok boomed. "You will surrender and become slaves, or you will die!"

"NEVER!" shouted a young armoured fire dragon, running towards Shorok.

The dragon was cut down with one swipe of Shorok's tailblade, and he fell dead, his head twisted at an awkward angle. Cynder heard Tyrax gasp beside her. She turned to him and whispered quietly to him. "Find Electrika if you can and get everyone else out of here. I'm going further in to get anyone who's strayed further in to get out of here." Cynder ordered. Tyrax hesitated. " _Now_ , Tyrax!"

Tyrax nodded quickly, and ran off, as did Cynder. She ran towards the direction Shorok had come from, the Shadow General distracted with other matters, allowing her free access into the inner workings and corridors of Dark Peak.

As she ran, she came across a few armoured dragons, whom she told to leave. She made sure they made it out to the entrance cave, but most of them were killed by shadowclaws and venomfangs, as well as the occasional weird fleshy dragon. She ran about for thirty minutes to possibly an hour, and she was satisfied that she had made it through most of the caves in Dark Peak that the dragons probably would have made it through, and she was about to turn around and run back until she was hit in the face by a glob of poison. She shook it off her face, absorbing what wasn't shaken off, and groaned, "Why am I always hit in the face with these damn poison attacks?!"

She stopped short as she saw what had attacked her. A venomfang, but larger than most of them, and more properly structured. From the curvy, slender form of the creature, this venomfang was female. Then the venomfang spoke, and she realised that, like Shorok, she was a general of war, leading her type of dark dragon. "Well, well, well. Look who we have here." the dragoness said, her voice deep and raspy, and she licked her lips with a wet, venom-coated green tongue.

"Who are you?" Cynder asked, feeling her limbs begin to tremble.

"I'm Vhara, the Venom General, leader of the venomfangs. I'm sure you know about that role; you've met Shorok before." the she-venomfang said with a hint of a chuckle. "Hell, you even used to be one _yourself_! You'd know about it on a very… _personal_ level, I assume."

"Those days are over. I'm not what I used to be."

"Oh, I can tell. You're weak. Spyro's beginning to think less of you now."

"Probably good for me. I want nothing to do with him."

Cynder let out a siren scream, but Vhara leapt out of the way before the scream had even left Cynder's lips. Cynder closed her mouth, ending the useless attack, and growled. "I know your tricks, girl." Vhara chuckled back at her.

Suddenly, Cynder was tackled from the side. Two venomfangs stood over her, venom dripping down their lips and onto Cynder. Dark green blood streamed from the eye of one of them, and the other had a slit throat, which obviously didn't mean anything to the seemingly invulnerable dragons, as the crystal in its head was still intact.

Cynder growled as she fought from underneath them. With much effort, she threw them off her, and sliced off the head of the venomfang with the slit throat, the wound already evident helping her with some of the work. The other venomfang leapt at her, and she whirled around, stabbing the venomfang in the other eye with her tailblade. With a roar, she yanked her tailblade out, the eyeball skewered on the end of it, fluids and blood spilling from the pierced sphere. The venomfang screeched in pain, before Cynder put it out of its misery by separating its head from its neck.

"Clever girl." Vhara chuckled, a teasing tone in her voice. "You know my kind well. But I can assure you, I have more surprises!"

As she said this, Vhara peeled back her lips, and her mouth opened to an unnatural angle, a second row of razor-sharp fangs extracting out of the roof of her mouth just behind her first row of fangs. Immense amounts of venom and saliva dripped from her wet jaws. The smell was sickening, and the sight was horrifying. Cynder was frozen with fear for a while, before she realised how quickly Vhara was coming at her, jaws wide open, wider than most dragons' jaws could go. Cynder ducked, and Vhara took a bite out of the rocky wall. Cynder ran backwards, wanting to get away from the monster, as Vhara turned around, spitting out the rocks out of her mouth, before she opened her jaws again in a roar, giving Cynder a brilliant view of her wet, dark throat.

Cynder let out a scream as she closed her eyes, turning away and swinging her tailblade around. She heard Vhara roar, and she opened her eyes to see that she had left a great big cut on the roof of Vhara's mouth, dark green blood sliding down to the back of her throat. A few fangs had also been wedged loose, and blood oozed from the gums. While Vhara was distracted, roaring in pain, Cynder turned and fled, unsure of where she was going, but wanting to get away from Vhara.

Vhara's cries began to fade into the distance, and Cynder breathed a sigh of relief, believing that she had finally lost the crazed Venom General. She walked slowly down the corridor, before she felt something squelch underneath her paw. She looked down and lifted her paw to see that she had stepped on a pool of blood. A few metres away lay two dark green wings, disembodied, streaming with blood. Bloody pawprints ran off down the corridor, and there were two pairs of them. A broken, bloodied eye nearby, too.

There was a loud bang, followed by a howl. The bang sounded again, and this time a thud followed. A terrified scream sounded, but it belonged to a different voice. The awful soundscape of shouting and more loud impact sounds continued for a moment, before it ceased. Cynder felt compelled to run over and see what was going on, but she needed to be careful. She didn't know what she would see. She didn't _want_ to know what she would see.

A bright yellow light lit up the tunnel from the opening a few metres in front of her, and then there was a hissing sound. Dark, thick smoke bellowed from one side of the room outside the tunnel. Cautiously, Cynder continued to step closer, letting venom settle on the ends of her fangs in case something attacked her.

She turned to the left and let out a shriek at what she saw. Two earth dragons, one male and one female, dead, slumped in a bloody heap on the floor, the male slumped over the female's body. She remembered this horrific sight clearly. Cynder suppressed the urge to vomit. She had seen this before. These bodies. _Exactly_ the same wounds, _exactly_ the same position. Thirty-nine days ago, just over a month, she had witnessed this _exact_ moment in her dreams. It was all coming true. The shock began to get to her. The blood, the stench. The corpses that lay in front of her. It was all too much for her to handle. Suddenly Cynder realised what she saw in the corridor – the two wings and the eye – they belonged to this dead couple. Cynder swallowed, and stepped closer, closing both of the dragons' eyelids, and the dragoness' gaping, bloodied mouth.

"Hey!" a voice croaked from behind her, and Cynder saw a bloodied and broken electric dragon behind her. Cynder must have missed him from her dream; she didn't remember seeing an electric dragon in the room. But she never really checked. Then she remembered the blast of yellow light. Electricity. She had seen _that_ in her dream. The dragon spoke again. "I tried to help them! _He_ did this! He… he's a _murderer_!"

"I know. I hate Spyro's _guts_." Cynder spat. "I'm trying to kill him."

"No. _Not_ Spyro." the dragon croaked, before bursting into a fit of savage, wet coughs. He then began to throw up huge amounts of blood, causing the blood to stain in his mouth and around his lips, long strings of blood hanging from his chin. Tears streamed down his cheeks, mingling with the blood on his face. "We were friends before Spyro… Spyro turned him. He… he was…"

"Who are you talking about?"

"He… he…" The dragon struggled to speak, drawing hoarse breaths between croaky words. He gurgled, choking on the welling blood in him mouth, before he tried speaking again, blood spraying from his lips. "He was… he's…"

The dragon's half-raised head slumped to the ground, and he ceased breathing. Cynder swore quietly. Now there was _another_ murderer on the loose, and the dragon said he knew the one who did this. _We were friends before Spyro… Spyro turned him._

A corrupted slave? How far could Spyro fall? Cynder didn't want to know the answer.

Another howl pierced through the air. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw blood splatter onto the ground a few hundred metres down the large corridor from around a corner. She remembered this, too. Hopefully, she was quick enough to catch the murderer before he left. So she ran down the corridor, but when she got there, only the corpse of a malnourished lightning dragon lay in front of her, a gaping, bloody hole in the dragon's forehead and his jaws opened unnaturally wide. Cynder swore again. _This is going to play out_ exactly _the same way as my nightmare!_

Another howl. Cynder struggled to hold her tears back as she ran towards the sound, only to find yet another corpse, alone, yet covered with immense amounts of blood and with an extreme injury. She didn't stop to look at the details; the only thing she saw was blood and a red body belonging to that of a fire dragon. She looked around hoping to see any sign of the murderer. Nothing.

Feeling frustration fill her, she let out a shout, "Where are you?! Come and show yourself! And why are you doing this?!"

One final howl. Cynder stiffened. The fire dragon had been the last one in her nightmare. The howl sounded again. Cynder turned and walked slowly towards the sound. She turned a corner, before she stepped in a pool of blood and gore, and she leapt back, screaming, wiping the gore off the bottom of her paws. An earth dragon that looked a lot like Terrador lay in front of her, eyes rolled back in his head, the white, soulless eyes staring sightlessly at her. A large hole went through his forehead and out the back of his head, blood streaming from the wound, and pieces of brain and flesh dripping out of the wound. There was another wound in his chest, and entrails were thrown carelessly out of the wound; a lung here, and half a stomach there. His heart was thrown a few metres in front of him, still attached by a few large blood vessels to his chest. The heart was flattened, seeping blood. Cynder shuddered as she realised she had stepped on top of the heart.

She suddenly saw a few claws around the corner. Red, covered in thick, wet blood. She gasped, and the claws disappeared around the corner, and scrambling pawsteps were heard. She swallowed, walking towards the corner. _Could this be the murderer?_ she thought. _Who is it?_

She reached the corner. The claws had disappeared over the left side of the corner. To her right, there was an entrance to a large furnace of some sort, lava being thrown about inside, a few thin platforms of rock around the place. She looked to her left again. She was about to step forward, until a crazed dragon lunged at her from where she came from, and she was tackled to the ground, her hind right leg inside the dragon's mouth. She looked up and saw with a gasp who the dragon was.

Bright grey scales, almost white, with bright red eyes and blood covering his lips, claws and tailblade. The same dragon that had leapt out at her in her dream. Cynder tried to stand up, but the grey dragon pulled her with a heap of force into the furnace room. The heat was intense, and Cynder began to sweat immediately. She kicked out savagely, knocking the dragon away from her, releasing her hind leg. She stood up, feeling blood dribble down her leg, and let out a roar.

The dragon chuckled at her attempt to be intimidating. "You don't scare me, Cynder. I know who you are. I know what you've _done_." the dragon said.

"Shut up! You don't know me!" Cynder retorted.

"I know _more_ about you than you _realise_ , Cynder. I know about what you've _done_ , who you've _loved_ and _cared_ for, and even where you _live_. I _know_ you, Cynder!"

"Get away from me!" Cynder screamed, swinging her tailblade in a wide arc towards the dragon's throat. She nicked the scales, but the dragon had moved far enough backwards for the tailblade to miss his throat. A few beads of blood trickled down the wound, but it was nothing fatal.

"Cynder, you know better than that." a deep voice echoed throughout the room. Spyro's voice, Cynder remembered it all too well. A massive head made of lava burst from the magma below her, smoke and ash bellowing from it, the light hurting Cynder's eyes. The head resembled Spyro's. "Why would you hurt this dragon? He seems to know a lot about you."

"Knowledge _you_ probably _gave_ him! I remember I knew a lot more things thanks to Malefor, some of that knowledge I lost after I was freed from my prison!" Cynder scowled.

"After _I_ freed you from that prison." Spyro corrected.

"Shut up, you f…"

"No need for that, Cynder." Spyro interrupted with a chuckle. "But in all seriousness, he _does_ know all that, all in his own mind. Sure, I helped with _some_ of it, but most of it was his own knowledge. In truth, he's _closer_ to you than you think."

"I've never met this guy, Spyro! How can he be close to me?"

The grey dragon reared his head and laughed. "A pity, Cynder, that you don't even know your own _brother_."

* * *

 **So it seems Electrika went along with the suicide mission anyway… Also, here we have direct links back to Cynder's future visions at the start of the book, and now Cynder's brother has been revealed too.**

 **I'm really happy with how this chapter went. I'd say this is one of my best chapters. I'm proud of the next chapter as well. But things are starting to turn for the worst now…**

 **…**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **Cynder's 'friend group' as mentioned in the Prologue (I put it in quotation marks because of how Electrika turned out) ended up turning into the four elements unintentionally. But I'm glad you enjoyed the actual guardian trainees.**

 **…**

 **Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you with the next one! (I know I said _Bitten_ was going to be the next chapter but oh well… maybe for Halloween…)**


	25. Chapter 24: Broken Family

Cynder faltered. No. There was _no way_ in _hell_ that this dragon could be her brother. She had _no_ family. She _refused_ to believe him. "You're lying. Darkness is all about deceit and lies, I should know." Cynder murmured.

"Stop living a lie, Cynder." the dragon chuckled. "You had to come from _somewhere_. You had to have had a family at _some_ point, you demented freak."

"Demented?! You're calling me _demented_?!"

"Yes, we are." Spyro answered for the dragon, a wide grin making its way across his lava-projected face. "I need you here with me. It's either you join me, or you die. So, what will you choose?"

"I'll never join you!" Cynder scowled. "Stop asking me!"

"Sure. The three chances I gave to you are over. You're as good as dead to me now, my dear." Spyro replied with a chuckle, before turning to the grey dragon. "Aerus, kill her."

"What?!" Cynder exclaimed. "If this dragon… Aerus… is truly my brother, why would you get him to kill me?"

"Because I'm an assassin. Spyro's my master, and you have no more worth to him." Aerus said darkly, an evil snarl pulling at his blood-stained lips as he began to advance slowly towards her. "I'm not a general like you used to be, but I _am_ a murderer. And it's my job to finish what I've started."

With that, Aerus lunged at Cynder, bloody claws outstretched and jaws wide open, dripping with bloodied saliva. Cynder ducked under Aerus, turning around and raising her claws to strike. Aerus was too fast. He spun around and caught Cynder's left forepaw in his mouth, biting down hard to the point where she felt the bone began to break under the force of Aerus' bite. Cynder let out a cry of pain, pulling hard to try and get it out. It didn't work. Only more pain flared from her paw. She suddenly felt Aerus begin to tug back, trying to rip her paw off. Small pops and cracks began to sound from her paw. Cynder growled, diving into her shadow and freeing her paw. _Damn, wish I thought of that earlier._ she thought as she leapt out of her shadow, driving her horns into Aerus' chest. Aerus growled, stepping backwards as Cynder landed on the ground safely.

A burst of lava burst from the hot volcanic liquid underneath them, spraying molten rock and ash everywhere. Cynder unfolded her wings, blocking her face from the spraying lava. Aerus was unfazed by it. The lava sprayed over and around him, not touching any part of his body at all. Cynder unfolded her wings once the lava fountain ended and swore, lunging at Aerus. Aerus caught her by the throat in his jaws, and turned around, holding her over the pit of lava underneath them. Cynder let out a strained croak, and she tried to swing herself back to a ledge. Aerus dropped her, and she lashed out with a yelp, grabbing onto the rocky beam that Aerus was standing on. Her brother sneered, before he opened his mouth and breathed a gust of wind at Cynder. She lost her grip.

She fell, screaming, feeling the heat of the magma stronger than ever. She heard Aerus, her own brother, laughing and throwing insults at her. Cynder scowled, unfolding her wings and taking to the skies, flying back around and circling Aerus. "So you're a wind dragon, huh?" Cynder asked, mainly to herself, but loud enough for Aerus to hear.

"So are you, sister!" Aerus scowled. "Why do you think your wind element is the only one that isn't of dark origins?"

She hadn't thought of it like that before. She scowled with annoyance as she thought that, realising she had let Aerus get to her. Cynder growled and spat a glob of poison at Aerus, and the acid sprayed all over the right side of his face, sizzling loudly. Aerus growled in pain before he opened his mouth wide, wider than most dragons' (like Vhara's), and swiped his long, wet tongue around his face, licking up the poison. A low guttural growl emanated from his throat as his tongue retreated back into his maw. The growl turned into a deep roar, before turning into an ear-piercing screech. Cynder cried out in pain, covering her ears as she flew in place in the air.

Aerus stopped screaming, and took in a deep breath, before he spoke, deep, distorted tones underneath his normal voice. Immediately, Cynder could tell he was being possessed by Spyro. "Stop fighting me, Cynder! I will never leave you! Even if you leave here, I will track you down, and I will kill you, no matter what it takes!" 'Aerus' scowled.

"Get out of him Spyro!" Cynder growled. "Release him from your captivity! He's not your slave!"

"He never was." The distorted voice came from Aerus' mouth. "We have always been a team since he came here, wanting to be like you. Demon and assassin. The assassins here are part of my network, a part of _me_! And I am a part of them, _literally_ , as I possess them! So I am him, as he is me. We are _one_!"

A strangled cry rose from Aerus' throat, without the deep undertones, and he wrenched his eyes shut. As Aerus cried out, his mouth widened even further than it had earlier, giving a horrific display of blood-soaked fangs and a dark, pink, fleshy throat, where a long, slobbery tongue snaked out of. Long strings of saliva dripped from his jaws, shaking wildly under the stress of his heavy breathing and loud cries.

Aerus opened his eyes, and they were no longer normal grey eyes. They were blood red, and black spots filled his sclerae. Aerus let out another scream, this time it was distorted. Spyro spoke from inside Aerus again, his massive head of molten rock moving over behind him through the magma beneath them, their lips working in unison as they spoke with one voice. "Join your brother, Cynder. He longs to be with his sister again! Become one with him, as he is one with me! Become an assassin! Not a war general, like what you once were, but a dedicated _assassin_! You used to get _so much pleasure_ from killing!" Spyro growled, his voice mixing with the voice that came from Aerus' vocal chords.

Aerus' original voice suddenly spoke back. "Get out of me!" Aerus screamed. "I don't want it!"

"He's fighting back." Cynder said quietly, mainly to herself, before she burst out in loud cheering. "He's fighting back! Come on, Aerus! Believe in yourself!"

"Come on, Cynder! You're so naïve. You can't just _fight_ me! I'm stronger than Malefor _ever_ was!" Spyro growled, speaking through Aerus again, blood-red irises glowing immensely as Spyro spoke. "He _can't_ fight back! I am him, as he is me! We are one, Cynder! _We are one_! WE… ARE… _ONE_!"

The final word seemed to growl on for eternity, the roaring voice of Spyro and Aerus' screams murging into one muddled up shriek, and the sound hammered against Cynder's ears. She forced herself to the ground in front of Aerus, her wings beginning to hurt, no longer able to support her weight as her vision began to darken, the darkness radiating from Aerus' body too much for her to handle. Aerus screamed out in his normal voice, in amongst the roaring, distorted voice, speaking to Spyro or Cynder, she didn't know, and she couldn't understand what he was trying to say; Spyro's unending roar was too loud.

Watching Aerus in so much pain hurt her, and she knew this needed to stop. Aerus wasn't strong enough to beat the battle raging inside his body. Maybe she could help. She noticed dark energy began to seep out of his throat, as well as his wounds and from between his scales. His body was filling up with dark energy, and she needed to get it out of him.

She knew what she needed to do.

Cynder took a battle stance, her vision still failing, and she took two groggy steps forward, before she swung her tailblade around forcefully, slicing it through Aerus' chest. The grey dragon let out a scream as dark energy burst from the deep, bloody wound, lips peeled back almost as far as they could go, saliva dripping from his jaws. Aerus' eyes rolled back in his head, and blood began to stream from his eye sockets and nostrils. The scream went on for what felt like eternity, until he fell to the ground, half-conscious, whimpering and sobbing uncontrollably.

Spyro swore at her. "You will die for this, Cynder! You killed my assassin!" he scowled, rushing towards her through the lava.

Knowing he was just a projection, she breathed a strong pulse of wind at the head of lava, and with a loud howl, the projection of Spyro dispersed, and the lava fell to the pool of magma below with a splash. Then there was silence. Well, somewhat. The only thing that broke the silence was the soft bubbling of the magma below them and Aerus' heavy sobs.

Cynder and Aerus remained alone and silent for a minute before Cynder spoke up. "Are you alright?" Cynder asked.

"No! No, I'm not alright!" Aerus snapped, looking up at her with red, teary eyes, dried blood still streaked down his face. "The things I've said! The things I've _done_! I hate myself for all of it!"

"I know what it's like, brother." Cynder said. She inhaled to continue speaking, but Aerus interrupted her.

"No, you _don't_ , Cynder! You _don't_ know what it's like to be an assassin controlled by a being of _darkness_! You'll _never_ know what it's like!" he howled.

"I _DO_ KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE YOU DAMNED IDIOT!" Cynder screamed. "Why the hell else do you think I'm not grey like you? Or that I never knew who my family was? Or that I've been hated and tormented for _all my life_ for what I was _forced_ to do!"

Aerus jumped at her outburst and began to cry harder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he whimpered. Over and over again, he repeated the same two words. "I'm sorry!"

"Aerus, I'm sorry for snapping at you like that. I'm just… freaking out. Worried. Scared." Cynder apologised, trying to speak as gently as possible to soothe the troubled dragon down. "Shocked. You're my _brother_ for crying out loud! I didn't even know I still had family alive!"

"Mum and Dad love you, Cynder. You know that, right? Even after what you did as that monster… they still loved you. I never understood why, but after I heard that you were freed from that torment, and I heard rumours that you helped save the world, I… I don't know. I suddenly realised that it wasn't your fault." Aerus explained through tears and sniffles.

"Which means that they still love _you_ , no matter what you did while you were possessed. _I_ love you. You're my _brother_ for the ancestors' sakes! How could I _not_?!"

Aerus sniffled, standing up and embracing Cynder, crying into her shoulder, murmuring his thanks and apologies countless times before he pulled back. "I'm proud of you Aerus. You pulled through it all." Cynder said.

Aerus was about to open his mouth to reply, until the ground suddenly began to shake from underneath their paws, and the bubbling of the magma underneath them got more violent. "We need to get out of here!" Cynder cried, turning towards the entrance that Aerus had pushed her through earlier, but the ground shook again. Rocks fell down from the roof of the entrance, blocking her way out of it. Cynder figured she could still get under with her shadow element, and pull Aerus under with her, as long as she still had access to the ground, but about five metres of the stone ledge in front of the caved-in entrance cracked and fell into the magma, sending a large, roaring fountain of lava into the air. Cynder cursed, not noticing Aerus flinch behind her at her foul language. "Is there another exit?" she asked Aerus.

"Yeah! This place may look like and be used like a furnace, but really, it's a magma chamber of a volcano. Dark Peak is actually an active volcano, and Spyro's rebuilt it and used a few spells on it so that the magma goes straight up from the funnel, not outwards, as that would destroy his base." Aerus said, turning around. "But it looks like he's blocking off the entrances so we can't get out. One of the spells was around this furnace so the lava couldn't spill out the entrances."

"Well… how do we get out then?!" Cynder asked.

"Find an entrance that isn't blocked!" Aerus cried, opening his wings and taking to the air.

Cynder was about to do the same, but as she spread out her wings, a plume of lava burst out beside her, and hot, molten rock sprayed over her left wing, and it began to sizzle. She let out a scream and shook her wing, throwing the small droplets of the lava off her wing, but now she was downed. "Aerus! I can't fly!" Cynder cried. "My left wing's been immobilised!"

Aerus groaned and turned, flying back down to Cynder and grabbing her in all four of his limbs, lifting his sister off the thin, unstable rocky platform as another plume of lava suddenly burst out from underneath it, destroying the platform where Cynder had been standing. Had Aerus been any later, Cynder would have been burned to a crisp.

Aerus gasped. "Look! There's one that hasn't been blocked yet!" he cried, flying up towards the entrance. "And Garren's throwing garbage through it!"

"Who's Garren?" Cynder asked.

"GARREN! GARREN, DOWN HERE!" Aerus shouted, not heeding her question.

Cynder noticed an earth dragon at the entrance they were heading towards, and he looked down at them. He was throwing bones and rotten corpses, as well as lots of other pieces of junk down into the well of lava. "Aerus?!" the earth dragon, Garren, exclaimed.

"GET US OUT OF HERE, QUICK!" Aerus shouted.

Garren abandoned what he was doing and leapt back out of the magma chamber 'furnace', allowing Aerus and Cynder room to get out. They burst through the entrance as the magma chamber erupted full force with a pillar of lava. The heat was astounding, and Cynder coughed as ash was sprayed out of the entrance to the furnace, nothing more.

"Aerus! You're alright! I thought you were…!" Garren cried.

"I'm fine. Cynder saved me." Aerus interrupted, looking down at his sister, coughing violently on the ground, her burned wing sagging down along her flank. "She's my sister."

"Nice to meet you, Cynder." Garren said. "I've heard of you a fair bit from Darrenfell, the city I come from, but I've never actually met you. And for you to be the sister of my best friend, I'm really quite surprised."

Cynder coughed again, standing up. "Nice to meet you too… Garren, I think it was." she replied, receiving a nod from Garren. "How long have you been here?"

"Uh… probably a month now. Same as Aerus. He and his family got here a few days before I did." Garren explained.

"A month?! You've been here for almost the majority of this war!" Cynder exclaimed, suddenly realising something that Garren had said. "Wait, the rest of Aerus'… _my_ family… is here?!" It felt weird to call Aerus' family her own, but she liked it.

"Yeah, Mum and Dad are here, too. We finally managed to track down where you lived, and so we tried to come and visit. Unfortunately, we got caught up in this mess on the way to Warfang." Aerus explained.

"I'm sorry…" Cynder apologised.

"Don't be." Aerus insisted, before his face lit up. "Do you want me to show you to them? Spyro said that today's their day off! They're just in their cells doing whatever, not having to do any slave work today!"

"Probably so he could get to you… I don't know." Cynder said, discomfort in her voice.

"Come on! Let's go!" Aerus said, completely ignoring what Cynder had said. "I'll make sure we don't get seen!"

And so, after saying goodbye to Garren, Aerus led Cynder down a windy path through the caves. He got to a section of the cave quite close by, narrowly avoiding a shadowclaw and venomfang, where cells lined every wall. "Shadowclaws and venomfangs don't end up here that often, but Shorok and Vhara usually show up here." Aerus whispered. "Sometimes the fleshy dragons come down here, as well. Apparently, they're a new test for one of Spyro's new dark dragon species. They took a dragon away for testing for the new species. Never came back. Heard that the test was successful, though."

Cynder swallowed. She was worried now. There might be a catch to the flesh dragons. She was just lucky that she had managed to kill the one she got acquainted with quick enough before it could do anything to her.

Aerus stopped beside her as he stopped. "What?" Cynder asked, stopping as well.

"They're gone. My parents are gone!" Aerus croaked. " _Our_ parents!"

"Hey, Aerus! Is that you?" a dragoness whispered from behind them.

Aerus and Cynder turned around, and saw a beautiful, but terribly scarred, young ice dragoness, in chains inside her cell. "Yes it is, Myrren. Why?" Aerus asked.

"Spyro came by about a minute ago. He took your parents away. I'm not sure why." Myrren explained, her voice quivering. "Think he said something about torture."

"Oh no!" Aerus cried, turning and sprinting off. " _That_ was why they were given a day off! So he could _torture_ them!"

Cynder ran after him, whispering as loudly as she could. "Aerus! Aerus, come back! You'll get yourself killed!"

It wasn't long before she caught up to her brother; somehow, they still hadn't been caught by any shadowclaws or venomfangs. Aerus turned a corner and slowed. "Aerus, what in the ancestors' names are you doing?" Cynder scowled quietly.

"If they're being tortured, they'll be in here; the torture chamber." Aerus explained.

"Are you a damned _idiot_?! We'll get _killed_ if we're spotted here!"

"We might not be. No one's taken any notice of us yet."

"That might change _real soon_."

"They're our _parents_! We can't just _leave_ them! Don't you _want_ to meet your parents?"

"I _do_ , but… this doesn't feel right!"

Aerus scoffed and turned around, stalking off down the entrance to the torture chamber. Cynder swore under her breath, going after Aerus to make sure he didn't get in trouble. "You have a real potty mouth, Cynder." Aerus deadpanned. "Us wind dragons _never_ stoop down low enough to swear."

"Well apparently to some, I'm not a wind dragon anymore. I'm still the Terror of the Skies."

Aerus didn't take any notice of Cynder's deadpanned remark, and stopped at the sound of shouting voices. Spyro's voice. Footsteps were heard. A shadow came around from the corner of the large room. The large room with sharp torture tools and tables and guillotines and… blood… splattered all over the floor. A brain and a severed wing lay on the ground as well, dried blood crusted around them. Cynder leapt at Aerus, tackling him to the ground as she dragged him underneath a low table in the corner of the room, which they got a marvellous view of. Cynder's burned wing rubbed painfully against Aerus' side, smearing pus and blood all over his right shoulder. He didn't seem to notice as Spyro walked into the room holding chains in his mouth. Two wind dragons, one male and one female, were chained up behind him, bleeding quite badly. Cynder heard Aerus' breath hitch at the sight of them, and she realised, these were her parents. She mouthed the words 'mother' and 'father'. They felt foreign to her lips.

Spyro let go of the chains, letting them fall to the floor with a clatter, before he turned and rammed his horns into the wind dragoness, Cynder and Aerus' mother, knocking her over, belly up, onto a large wooden table with a thud. Cynder's mother screamed in pain, and the male dragon, her father, let out a small sob. Spyro turned to him with a snarl. "Shut the hell up, Fyrus, or you'll get even more punishment than you deserve." he scowled, and Cynder's father, Fyrus, nodded with a whimper, mouthing a prayer to the ancestors.

Spyro turned and grabbed an axe that was hanging on the wall, holding it in his mouth by the handle, as he padded back towards Cynder's mother, before raising a paw and taking the axe out of his maw. He turned it over a few times in his paw, revelling in the sheen of the sharp blade. "The legendary Axe of the Gûlron Tribe, wielded by many an ape in battle, mainly by the ones in high rankings. I heard Parûhl, Gaul's predecessor, used this axe quite often, before it was lost in the Battle of Typhaar. Your mother died by this axe, didn't she, Kreshaar?" Spyro asked with a chuckle.

Kreshaar, Cynder's mother, began to weep, breathing heavily. Spyro growled, raising the axe. "Damn you to the ancestors, Kreshaar! Answer me when I speak to you!" Spyro cursed.

"Yes." Kreshaar muttered.

Cynder's eyes widened. She had never heard anyone 'damn' another person to the ancestors before. Well, Spyro _was_ on hell's side after all. She looked to her left. Aerus was beginning to lose it. _Hold it in, Aerus. We can't be found here._ Cynder thought.

"I didn't hear you, Kreshaar." Spyro said in a dangerous tone.

"Yes." Kreshaar repeated, slightly louder, her voice quivering as she wept.

"So answer me well, or I will slice your stomach open with the same blade that killed your mother, got it?" Spyro ordered.

Kreshaar nodded, the words failing to leave her mouth. With a growl, Spyro lashed out, cutting Kreshaar's paw clean off with the axe, blood spilling from the stump like a fountain, as Kreshaar let out a scream. Fyrus let out a cry as well as he watched the disembodied paw fall with a thud to the ground, blood from Kreshaar's stump spilling down onto the paw. Spyro growled. "Did I not just tell you a few seconds ago to be quiet, Fyrus?!" he roared, turning to Kreshaar without waiting for an answer. "And I want you to answer me _verbally_ , Kreshaar. Understood?"

"Yes." Kreshaar sobbed.

Then, another paw was gone, landing with a thud next to the first one, blood splattering all over the ground, and Kreshaar let out a howl. "'Yes, _Spyro_.'" Spyro ordered sternly.

"Yes, Spyro." Kreshaar repeated in amongst pained screams.

"Alright, so tell me, Kreshaar. Why were you making trouble in the main hall yesterday? Why were you being disobedient?" Spyro asked.

"Because I was told to bow to Vhara, and to disown my son, whom you corrupted three days ago." Kreshaar answered, her breath heavy and irregular, tears streaming down her face and blood running down her legs. "I vowed at the age of fourteen that I will only bow to Queen Lehftin, the Queen of Typhaar, and after what happened with my daughter, I will _not_ let go of my son, _especially_ after the way you took him from me like my daughter was taken by Malefor."

Spyro clucked his tongue. "I didn't like that answer."

In two wild slashes, Spyro brought the axe down unto Kreshaar's stomach, ripping flesh with a horrible squelching sound, and blood sprayed _everywhere_. Her entire belly was stained red, and her stomach was visible, split open and digestive juices seeping slowly out of it. Kreshaar shrieked with pain, only stopping to take short, powerful heaves of oxygen before she continued howling. Fyrus was bawling now, his mate's blood splattered all over the floor and his chest. Cynder swallowed hard and heard Aerus weeping softly beside her.

Spyro let out a growl. "I said shut up!" he howled at Fyrus, turning and throwing the axe he held at Fyrus, embedding itself half-way into his neck. Fyrus was instantly silenced as he fell into a heap on the ground, blood streaming from his neck.

"NO!" Aerus screamed, long and loud, until he was cut off by Cynder as she shoved her paws over his muzzle.

"You damn idiot!" Cynder whispered hoarsely, before going quiet and looking to the direction of Spyro and Kreshaar. The latter was still screaming in pain.

Spyro froze upon hearing Aerus' scream. "Someone's here." he growled, before swearing twice, turning to Kreshaar. "Did you have any part of this?! Are you leading a _rebellion_?!"

"No! No, I swear I'm not!" Kreshaar pleaded. "Please don't hurt me again! _Please_!"

Spyro swore, raising his paw and shoving his claws into Kreshaar's eye sockets, and she was instantly blinded. She let out another scream as blood welled up in her eye sockets, rolling down her face, replacing the tears that her eyes could no longer produce as Spyro retreated his claws, taking both eyeballs with them. Aerus mumbled hoarsely in Cynder's grip, and Cynder suddenly felt tears brim in her eyes as she mouthed a violent curse.

"Tell me now! Who the hell is in here?! And why the hell did you disobey orders in the main hall yesterday?!" Spyro screamed, his voice distorting in rage.

"I don't know who's in here! I swear I don't!" Kreshaar howled, searching around sightlessly, and flinched as she heard Spyro let out a guttural growl. "I swear on the _damn_ ancestors I don't know who the _hell_ is in here!"

Aerus flinched, hearing his mother use vulgar language for the first time, albeit slightly mild, as compared to Cynder's violent curses. Kreshaar's pleading was useless, however, as Spyro opened his jaws wide and lunged at Kreshaar's neck, before twisting his head, cracking the neck in his maw. Spyro lifted his head forcefully, separating Kreshaar's head from her neck with a sickening wet snap, sending blood and entrails spraying everywhere. He dropped Kreshaar's head, and it landed on the ground with a splatter, blood spilling out from her neck and eyes, tongue lolling sideways onto the floor. Aerus let out a muffled scream. His mother's eyes stared sightlessly back at him, horror filling his heart.

"I hear you. Come out, intruder." Spyro growled, before he swore.

Aerus' breath went hard, and his screams became harder and louder. Cynder had finally had enough. She leapt out from under the table, ramming it into Spyro's face, sending him stumbling backwards. Cynder grabbed Aerus and lifted him onto her back, ignoring the pain it put on her burned wing, and ran off out of the bloodied torture chamber.

Aerus was howling now as Cynder ran. She prayed to the ancestors that she would find the way out of Dark Peak, and shouted as she heard Spyro's roars echoing behind her, as well as many screeches. Cynder swore and picked up the pace. She turned a corner and her breath hitched as she found the way she had entered Dark Peak, the sunrise entirely visible through the large hole. "STOP HER!" she heard Spyro roaring.

Cynder made the mistake of looking behind her, and saw Vhara running up towards her, jaws wide open and her second row of fangs protruding out of the flesh in her green mouth. Cynder screamed, turning her head around and staring out into the sunrise.

She jumped into the air, using her wind element, gifted to her by birth, to lift her and Aerus up into the air by manipulating the air around them. They flew for a few seconds, probably about ten, before Aerus was hit by a well-aimed glob of poison from afar. Cynder cursed as Aerus fell off her back and down to the ground, screaming and gurgling in pain. In her panic, Cynder lost control of the wind keeping her up, and she fell too. She quickly caught up with Aerus, frantically searching for where the glob of poison had landed. She found it, and in a rush, dug her claws into Aerus' flesh, prying it open, before calling on her poison energy to absorb the poison in Aerus' body.

Suddenly, pain flared through her body, and everything went black.

* * *

Cynder's eyes opened. Everything hurt. She spent a while trying to remember why she was here, lying in the grass, unconscious, until the events of what had happened earlier that morning entered her head. She felt a tear slip down her muzzle. She had met her brother, Aerus, and had found his parents… _her_ parents… in the torture chamber, where they had been tortured and murdered _brutally_ by Spyro.

She leapt up with a gasp as she remembered Aerus. He had been hit by poison. Was he safe? Had she called the poison out quick enough before she had blacked out? She looked around, ignoring the pain, before she found Aerus sitting on a rock a few metres away from her, head hanging low, his body heaving with sobs. Cynder stood and limped towards him, sitting next to her brother.

They sat in silence for a while as Aerus wept uncontrollably. Cynder felt the need to comfort him, but she didn't know what to say. His parents had died. Sure, Kreshaar and Fyrus were _her_ parents too, but she didn't know them. Their deaths had hurt her, but not personally. She saw innocent people's lives being taken from them, but she never saw them as her parents' lives. She didn't know what to feel about that.

Cynder swallowed, and opened her mouth to speak, leaving it hanging open as she tried to figure out what to say. She closed it again and swallowed, before inhaling and beginning to speak. "Are you alright?" She mentally clawed herself for the _stupid_ question.

Aerus rounded on her with fury. "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M ALRIGHT?!" he shrieked, eyes bright red and tears streaming down his face.

She started, her face filled with shock at his sudden outburst. Aerus faltered, turning his head and hanging it low again, before he sobbed loudly, whimpering and wailing uncontrollably. "They're gone. I can't believe they're gone." Aerus mumbled between breaths, and Cynder felt bad. She didn't know what to say. Aerus continued to mumble. "The blood. I've never seen so much blood and gore before."

Now Cynder _really_ felt bad. He had been opened to a harsh world so quickly. He had been taken from his parents and corrupted, forced to commit countless murders. But even those murders weren't as bloody and horrid as his parents'. And for his parents to be murdered right in front of him… Cynder couldn't bear the thought. She couldn't even imagine the pain he was going through. She couldn't bring herself to say anything. She couldn't even bring herself to say 'I'm sorry.' And she hated herself for it.

Eventually, Aerus turned to her again. "Why didn't you feel anything? We could have saved Mother. We could have saved _Father_. But you stayed and hid, forced me back, and it didn't look like you felt _anything_." Aerus sobbed, swallowing and letting out a choke before he continued, raising his voice in a frustrated roar. "Do you even care?! Where's your heart?! Why are you so _emotionless_?!"

"I didn't feel anything because I didn't know them." Cynder murmured, and Aerus reeled back in shock, obviously regretting what he had said. Aerus closed his eyes and let out a loud, long wail that faltered into a strained whimper, tears streaming from his reddened eyes. Cynder sighed sadly, continuing to speak. "I know they were my parents. I feel bad _because_ I didn't feel anything. I only saw innocent dragons' lives being taken, nothing more than that. I still felt emotion, but not in a personal way. I never…" Cynder choked and her breath hitched, tears brimming in her eyes, finally showing emotion. "I never got to know them. And now they're gone. I never will."

"We could have stopped it. We could have saved Mother." Aerus wept.

"We would have gotten killed too, if we had. Spyro's not someone to mess with. He… He killed all three guardians as if they were hatchlings."

"He… he what?"

"The guardians are dead because of him. There were the three of them, as well as a highly skilled warrior from the Warfang Army who got away with pretty bad wounds. And they couldn't beat Spyro. There was no way us two alone could have fought Spyro, and taken your moth… _our_ mother… to safety." Cynder was on the verge of weeping now. She inhaled a shuddering breath. "I'm so terribly sorry, brother. Truly. But I need to stay alive, for the good of Warfang. And I need _you_. You're the only family I have left. It was easier to keep you safe than Mother and Father. You were right next to me."

Aerus nodded, sniffling and breathing heavy, shuddering breaths. "I know. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I just…" he murmured. "I couldn't help but be selfish. For all my life, I've been an only child. I was looking forward to having a sibling, but then your egg was just… gone after that night. When Mum and Dad got the news, they were devastated. They tried to have another, but you were the last egg Mum was able to produce. Her body shut down after the severity of her mourning, and could no longer produce an egg."

Cynder was so hurt when she heard this. She broke down in tears, and she and Aerus wept together, as brother and sister. She embraced her older brother, and he returned the embrace, and they sat there, hugging and weeping uncontrollably together.

Aerus drew a shaky breath after about two minutes of weeping in silence. "We were found about a month ago by Spyro's dark forces, and we were taken in. Spyro immediately knew who we were, I don't know how. He kept threatening us, and we became slaves. I was his personal slave. He threatened Mum and Dad that if they were to do anything wrong, I was to befall the same fate as you." Aerus explained. "They were framed. Vhara's a cunning one, I'll tell you that. She drew her own blood and blamed it on Mum and Dad; I saw the whole thing. Spyro believed it, that f…" He caught himself before he could swear, still believing that a wind dragon didn't curse. "He believed Vhara's façade, and I was corrupted. Three or four days ago, I think it was; I can't remember. He then said if they were to do anything wrong again, then they would be killed at his paws. You know what happened then."

Cynder nodded. "They refused to bow to Vhara." she murmured hoarsely, before she felt more tears flow from her eyes, and she began to cry again.

They remained in the embrace as they tried to calm themselves down, and after ten minutes, they had cried out all their tears. "Now what?" Aerus asked. "What do we do now?"

"Let's head home. To Warfang." Cynder said. "You can stay at my house until you get one of your own; there's plenty of room."

Aerus smiled at his sister. "Thanks."

They called on their wind element, and took to the skies, flying towards Cynder's home in Warfang.

* * *

 **Wooo this one's done! Really happy with this one too.**

 **Well I got three weeks of school left but exam blocks are next week and I'm really stressing out about it. But I can't wait to get school finished and to continue work on 3D modelling and learning C# (still haven't gotten around to doing that), as well as making some more music.**

 **…**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **Your welcome! How was the graphic 'nightmare inducing description' in this chapter for you? :D But I'm still glad you're enjoying this, and thanks for the support.**

 **Guest:** **Yes, there _is_ a reason for Spyro's corruption. I think I've said this before, but the reason doesn't actually come through until Part 3 of _Purple Legacy_ (but there are a few hints here-and-there in _Demonised_ ), mainly because of my terrible planning for the story's timeline, and I can't get it done sooner due to the events of _Demonised_ and Part 2.**

 **…**

 **Anyway, that's done. If you enjoyed, leave a review, and I'll see you around next time!**


	26. Chapter 25: Shock

Cynder and Logron flew towards Warfang. It was early morning, so they could see a few dragons were up and about, but the dragon city was for the most part pretty silent. As they got closer, they heard a few loud shouts, sounding like orders, and a green dragon turning from the Warfang gates and running off in the direction of the Warfang Temple. They finished their descent and landed inside Warfang's entrance courtyard. Aerus was pretty amazed by the sight as he looked around with a gasp filled with awe. "This is _huge_. I didn't realise how big Warfang actually was." Aerus said.

Cynder cracked a smile but didn't reply. She had a feeling Aerus was going to like it here. And she felt like she was going to like him being here. He was her brother after all. She was finally united with at least _someone_ from her family. She was glad to finally have him in her life.

Too bad it had happened in the middle of a war. A war with her _ex-mate_ , nonetheless.

Being with her biological family made her long for the family she had created. It wouldn't have started if she hadn't confessed her feelings for Spyro back when the world was breaking apart. But now Cynder knew it was all gone, and she would never have it again. She had come to accept it now, and the concept of Spyro being her mate was one she would laugh at now. It had been a while since Spyro had turned, and she had come to terms that Spyro was a dark warlord, like Malefor before him but much worse. And she hated Spyro with a passion now. Nothing could change that.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she caught Logron running up towards her in her peripheral vision. "Cynder! Cynder, you're back!" he cried, screeching to a halt in front of her and Aerus, panting heavily from the speed he had been running at. "I was so worried about you when you didn't return from Dark Peak with everyone else! When G'olrath came and told me you were here, I…"

"Well I'm sorry, it wasn't my fault I was held back." Cynder snapped. Logron flinched at the venom in her voice, and opened his maw to ask her what happened, but Cynder interrupted him before he could speak. "I don't want to talk about it now. Especially not in front of Aerus. It's a bit soon after… what happened."

Logron blinked, taking in the information. He looked towards the wind dragon standing beside Cynder, and Logron assumed this was the 'Aerus' Cynder was talking about. "Oh. O-o-okay, well… It's, uh… It's nice to meet you, Aerus. I'm Logron." Logron said, holding out his paw with a welcoming smile. Aerus looked at the paw, before taking it with his own shaky paw.

"Hi." Aerus said meekly.

Logron smiled, but looked closer at Aerus' face and frowned, noticing the faint tear streaks on his grey cheeks. He took a breath to ask what happened, but as he looked over towards Cynder, he saw the same tear streaks on her own cheeks. Now Logron was worried. Cynder wasn't known for being emotional. "Are you okay, Cynder?" Logron asked. "You've been crying… the both of you. What… what happened?"

Aerus choked. Cynder turned to look at Logron with a stare that could kill. "I _just_ said I'd tell you later." she murmured, causing Logron to flinch. "But… let's just say that Dark Peak happened."

She turned and began to walk off, flicking her tail to call Aerus to follow her, but Logron believed it was also out of anger. Aerus began to follow her, until Cynder paused, looking back at Logron with an empty stare. "And maybe also that I found my family." Cynder finished, gesturing to Aerus before turning and continuing to walk away, leaving Logron behind, slack-jawed.

They walked in silence towards Cynder's house. Upon entering, Cynder turned to Aerus and apologised, "Look, Aerus. I'm sorry about that."

Aerus sniffed, blinking away the fresh tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes. "No, it's alright." he murmured. "I just… I just need some alone time, if that's alright with you."

"Sure. Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll come out with you tomorrow, but… I… For now, I just want to be alone… think to myself for a while. Come to terms on what happened. Sleep it out, even. Ancestors, I only just realised how tired I was." Aerus said, before parting his jaws in a huge yawn.

"Okay, then. I guess I'll leave you be. I have to head off to work."

"Wait, what? You just went to hell and back. Are you sure you want to stress yourself out more by working?"

"Yeah, well everyone at the barracks needs to know what happened. And I need to do some scolding, as much as I don't want to."

"Why? What happened, Cynder?"

"A young, inexperienced nineteen-year-old who joined a few days ago decided to lead an invasion on Dark Peak." Cynder deadpanned.

Aerus' eyes widened in understanding. "Oh. _That's_ why you were there." he muttered. "I must admit I was a bit confused as to why you would just… _show up_."

Cynder nodded, before they just stood and stared at each other in silence. Aerus broke the silence as he let out another long yawn. Cynder smiled. "Alright, I'll leave you be, Aerus." Cynder said. "There's a spare room around the corner. That one can be yours until we get you your own accommodation. My room's upstairs; _don't enter_."

Aerus just chuckled. "I won't. I'm so glad we found each other." he said. "I love you, little sis."

Cynder's eyes widened at the words, causing her to freeze with shock. The last time she had ever heard those words was from Spyro. The phrase 'I love you' felt so foreign to her now. She swallowed the lump in her throat and spoke with a croaky voice. "I… I love you too, brother." she mumbled uncomfortably, although the meaning behind the words were legitimate.

With that, she turned and left.

* * *

She entered the barracks, Logron following her. She needed to explain what had happened to Logron, as well as everyone in the army, especially those who were stupid enough to go to Dark Peak. "Alright, everyone. Meeting in the elemental training room. Hurry up." she ordered, and everyone stopped what they were doing and walked off into the specified room.

Logron turned to her. "I'll go and get everyone else from the magic training room should anyone be there. You meet me in the elemental training room." he said.

Cynder nodded and turned, walking off into said room. She stood up onto a tall arena and looked down, waiting for Logron and other dragons to return. In the crowd gathered underneath her, she spotted Tyrax, staring down at his paws. Obviously, he knew what this was about. There were a few other downcast faces. Cynder even spotted Electrika. Her face wasn't nervous or downcast, nor was it angry or arrogant. Her eyes were wide open, dark and droopy, wet and bloodshot. Cynder dismissed the thought and looked out at the door as Logron walked in with four other dragons who were training in the magic room, Apata and Vetar being part of the four.

She raised a paw for silence, and she got it fairly quickly. She took a deep breath. Cynder was emotionally unstable at the moment; she could feel the anger rising up in her. She was in charge of this place. She couldn't look so unprofessional breaking out into a wild rage, especially on people who didn't participate in going to Dark Peak. Those who did probably deserved to be on the receiving end of her anger, but that wasn't necessary now at least. She needed to be professional.

Taking another deep breath to calm herself down, she finally spoke. "At midnight, there was an unauthorised expedition to go an invade Dark Peak. I'm not going to name anyone, but those who went, you know who you are. I will talk with you all alone after this, but now you know why I said not to go." Cynder said. No one spoke or dared make a sound. Apart from Tyrax, who let out a little whimper. "You all witnessed terrible horrors. I experienced the worst. You may have all seen or heard that I entered Warfang this morning with another dragon. He is Aerus, my brother." A few shocked gasps rose around the room. "He was corrupted, like I once was, and tried to kill me. Spyro's hold on him was strong, but he had been fighting for a while, and with my help, Aerus snapped out of the curse that Spyro had put on him. We managed to escape, and found his parents. _My_ parents. We stumbled across a torture chamber, where they were killed brutally in front of us. I won't go into detail now, but I will later with those who went to Dark Peak. Anyway, Aerus and I barely made it out alive. And when we regained consciousness, we were emotional wrecks. We've been scarred from that experience, especially my brother. They were slaughtered in the one of the most _brutal_ ways I have _ever_ seen, and that's saying something, given my past experience.

"So, I hope you all realise that going to Dark Peak prematurely was a damn stupid idea, and I will not put up with anyone else who still wants to go. You're all imbeciles, and what you've witnessed is only your fault. No one else is to blame." Cynder continued, and a few other dragons had been brought to tears. "Alright, everyone who didn't go to Dark Peak, you can leave. Logron, stay here, please. You need to know the full story."

Cynder stepped down from the arena as two thirds of the dragons in the room moved out, and the dragons remaining were scarred and slightly bloodied, having been healed by red gems (something Cynder had forgotten to do, her wing still burned and flopping down by her side), or holding back their emotions after the horrors they had experienced. The door to the room closed and there was silence for a while, apart from the slow, deep breathing of each dragon as they tried to suppress their emotions.

Electrika stepped forward towards Cynder, eyes red and hazy; Cynder wasn't sure what expression they carried. A large scar ran down her left eyelid, and both her dominant horns were missing, pulled from the skull as huge amounts of dried blood crusted around the holes left in her head. Electrika opened her mouth to speak, and the moment Cynder heard her voice, she lost all composure she once had, the previous goal of being 'professional' being completely discarded. "Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

"YOU ANCESTOR-DAMNED IDIOT, ELECTRIKA!" Cynder screamed, and the nineteen-year-old leapt back with fear, before bursting into tears.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the scarred nineteen-year-old howled, collapsing to the ground in front of Cynder.

"I told you that we were _not_ going to Dark Peak, and you go there behind my back! You're lucky I overheard two of the dragons who ended up being late, and got to your aid, or you'd all be in a much worse position that you are now!" Cynder scowled. "Now why the hell would you do that?!"

"I wanted to go! I wanted revenge! _They_ attacked _us_! And I just… I just…!" Electrika broke off into more wailing.

"Why didn't you listen to me? I've been involved with war and dark magic all my life, and you have the guts to disobey me like that?! I _know_ what I'm talking about! Darkness isn't something to toy with! It is dangerous, and can take lives! It _took_ lives! I saw some of our warriors die! I'm sure you all saw them die, too! You all saw the slaves in Dark Peak get murdered, too!"

She was responded by more cries, from not only Electrika, but Tyrax was also just starting to lose control of his emotions, tears slowly dripping from his eyes and hitched breaths bursting from his maw as he tried to suppress his sobs. Logron was shocked by the sight, but didn't speak once throughout the entire ordeal.

Cynder took in a shuddering breath. "The torturing was the worst. You all said that I was the master of torment at one point back eight or so years ago, right?" she asked, only to be replied by Electrika's crying and the occasional heavy sob from some of the less emotionally firm dragons in the group. No one responded to her question directly, and Cynder was losing her patience. " _Damn_ you all! For the ancestors' sakes, answer me!"

Almost everyone nodded.

"Well at least I was _slightly_ merciful! I gave them pain, and I only _sometimes_ killed my victims. Spyro was an outright _sadist_! He shed the most blood I have ever seen from his victims! And to make it worse, they were my _parents_! I never knew them, and they were butchered right in front of my eyes! And Spyro teased them, oh, how he _teased_ them. He killed them with the same axe that, apparently, killed my maternal grandmother. He sliced open my mother's stomach with that axe, before cutting open my father's throat with it! Spyro took out both my mother's eyes, and sliced off both her hind paws, before ripping off her head and creating a massive mess! I drew blood and loved the sight of it pouring in gallons from a dragon's body, but I was never as messy as Spyro was, and I was never as _sadistic_ as he was! You may think otherwise, but from what I saw…!"

"I believe you, Cynder! I believe you!" Electrika wailed, and many other dragons followed suit as they tried to defend themselves from Cynder's rage. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know what was going to happen! I'm so… terribly… sorry! I haven't been able to sleep all night from being kept up by nightmares! The blood… the gore! The damn screams! I still can't get them out of my head!"

"Maybe it serves you right. I hope you've all learned your damn lesson." Cynder scowled, turning and walking out.

Logron called after her, but Cynder didn't pay any heed to his cries. She turned and walked into her office, before sitting down and beginning to weep softly and silently, the memory of her parents' deaths fresh in her mind again.

"Cynder? Uh… General Cynder?" a familiar voice asked after a while of mourning in silence.

Cynder didn't look up, but she knew who the voice belonged to. "What is it, Electrika?"

"I'm so, so sorry. For _everything_. Everything I've said, everything I've done. I regret all of it." Electrika murmured, still sobbing uncontrollably. "I always believed you were a murderer, a fake, someone who would make friends just to hurt them. After what I saw in you when you entered Dark Peak… I know I was wrong. I hate myself for everything I've said."

"And what did you see in me?" Cynder scowled, raising her eyes to glare ominously at Electrika from the darkness of the room.

"I saw someone who cared for those in danger. Everyone who went… you didn't see them as workers you had authority over. You didn't see them as numbers in an army. You saw them as _people_. With _lives_. With _families_. And _friends_. With _dreams_. You saw _me_ like that. And I… don't… I don't deserve _any_ of that. You were willing to _die_ for us. You were out there to make sure we escaped safely. You could have called us a lost cause and left us there to die, but you _didn't_. Sure, you were mad…"

"Mad is a _very_ mild word for it."

"…but you _still_ came. You came anyway, and you protected us, and granted us safe passage out of Dark Peak. You were the last to leave. And you even found your _brother_. I'm really happy for you. And I'm really sorry. For every _damned_ thing I've said about you. I don't believe any of what I said anymore, and I'm sorry. Ancestors, my parents will hate me, right now. Even Irrith must hate me."

Cynder looked up at Electrika, pain searing her heart as she realised how much Electrika was beating herself up. "So…" Cynder murmured. "All that stuff you said about not being my friend… about faking it; about blaming me for your parents' deaths; about me being a weak, emotional brat…" Her voice was croaky and savage as she spoke through gritted teeth. "You don't still mean all of that?"

"Hell, no, Cynder! Did you not hear me apologise?" Electrika asked.

"Apologising isn't enough, after the stunt you pulled."

Electrika gasped, murmuring a curse under her breath. "Fine. I'll leave this place and resign if you want, but I want to start again. Please." she pleaded. "I have to say I did enjoy being friends with you back then, even if my past self would have hated to admit it."

Cynder hesitated, letting out a heavy sigh. "Sure." she said after a while.

"Thank you! Please meet me at my house this evening; you know where it is, you've been there before… back when we were… 'friends'. I want to host dinner for you. And your brother, too, if he can come." Electrika said.

"Sure. I'll see if Aerus can come."

"Thanks. If there's any other way I can make it up to you, please let me know." Electrika said, pausing to cough. "Anyway, I'll take my leave now. I don't deserve to be here. So I resign."

Electrika turned and walked out of Cynder's office. "I'll see you tonight. Around sunset, would be best."

Cynder didn't reply. She bent her head and wept, overcome by emotion of Electrika's sincere apology.

* * *

"So who exactly are we going to see?" Aerus asked Cynder as they walked through the streets of Warfang.

"An old friend of mine, Electrika Schollen." Cynder said, straining her voice as she said the phrase 'an old friend'.

"Is something wrong with her? You screwed your face up slightly then."

Cynder sighed. "She and I didn't really get off to a great start." Cynder said, twisting the story slightly so that Aerus wouldn't be too worried. "She shunned me for what I did as the Terror of the Skies; I kept her parents as slaves, and they died of the physical stress that put onto them. She came around though, and we've been friends for about… I think it was… two, three years, now." She lied about the time of their 'friendship'. In truth, she didn't actually remember when their one-sided friendship started.

"Oh." Aerus muttered.

"It's all fine now, really." Cynder said, turning when they got to Electrika's house. She stopped and knocked on the door, waiting for the nineteen-year-old electric dragoness to step out, open the door, and greet them.

There was no response. Cynder waited a while, then dismissed the silence as Electrika not hearing the knock. So she knocked on the door again, with slightly more force this time, accenting each knock. Still nothing. Aerus coughed awkwardly beside her. "Hello?! Electrika?! It's Cynder!" she called, hoping the dragoness could hear her from outside.

Still nothing. Aerus leaned towards Cynder. "Are you sure we've got the right house, or that she's even here?" Aerus whispered, his voice betraying his awkwardness.

"Shut up, she's here." Cynder scowled, before raising her voice again. "Electrika! Open the door!"

The door opened and revealed Electrika. The fear that had boiled in Cynder's heart was released, before she saw her friend's state and it re-entered her heart. Electrika wore a bandage around her head, which was stained red around where her horn-stumps were (the wounds had probably been reopened), and there were also fresh cuts around her wrists, dried blood smeared on her yellow scales as well as on her claw-tips. Tears also streamed down her face. Cynder gasped, as did Aerus, as she realised that Electrika had been cutting herself. She knew Electrika's depressed state was bad, but she hadn't thought it was _that_ bad.

"Oh, hey Cynder. Come in, please." Electrika greeted them, putting on a welcoming smile, although Cynder saw through the smile and saw the depression underneath it.

But Cynder followed Electrika in nonetheless, and Aerus followed. They walked into Electrika's dining room, where the table had three plates of food sitting on it. The meal wasn't anything impressive or fancy, being just a deer flank soaked in some marinade, with a few bits of vegetarian produce like potatoes (despite dragons being carnivores, they sometimes did choose to eat vegetables, however fruits are more common among the omnivorous dragons). But it didn't matter that the meal wasn't impressive; it was the act that counted, and Cynder was more than happy about it.

Apart from Electrika's emotional state. The nineteen-year-old was trying to hide it, but Cynder could see through her mask that she was not doing alright.

Electrika invited Cynder and Aerus down, before sitting down herself, and they started eating in silence. Cynder watched Electrika as she ate, noticing her constant downcast expression and the way her face screwed up on the occasion, as if forcing the tears back. Cynder felt she needed to ask if Electrika was alright, even if she knew she wasn't. "Hey, Electrika. Are you…?"

"So, your name's Aerus, isn't it?" Electrika interrupted, trying to avoid Cynder's question as if knowing what she was about to ask her. Cynder didn't make a move to try and argue back and force the question down Electrika's throat.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." Aerus muttered after swallowing his mouthful of food.

Electrika stifled a laugh. "I would never have thought that Cynder would have family, let alone alive. Yet here you are." she said with a sad chuckle. "You have an amazing sister, you know that, right?"

Aerus just nodded, having taken a bite of food again his mouth was full of venison. He swallowed after a while and replied verbally, "Yes. I'm so happy I found her. Although the original situation was pretty dire."

"I'm so happy for you guys." Electrika said with a small smile. This time, Cynder wasn't sure if it was genuine or fake like the other smile Electrika had given them. "I pray you two get to know and enjoy each other's company well."

"You… you sound like you're saying goodbye."

"I am. I'm leaving."

"Leaving Warfang?"

Electrika swallowed the small mouthful of venison before speaking. "Yes. I know I said I wanted to have another chance at getting our friendship back together, Cynder, but I just can't. Being here in Warfang just reminds me of you and everything I said to you that you didn't deserve. I struggle to even look at you with you being here now. All I hear is my hurtful words and your cries from just after Spyro turned when _I_ decided to turn on you too. I realise now how terrible my words were… how terrible my _actions_ were. I wish I could take them all back, but I can't. I just… can't be here any longer. I'm leaving Warfang and finding somewhere else to live. And I won't come back…"

"Electrika, I'm sorry you feel like that, but please. Don't go. If you need help, I'll be glad to." Cynder said. "And I'm serious about this."

"But how?! _How_?! After _all_ I said?!"

"Because that's in the past! You've changed since then!"

"But how do I deserve your empathy?! How do I deserve your forgiveness?! I said and did _terrible_ things to you!" Electrika exclaimed forlornly, and the tears were finally starting to spill down her golden cheeks. "All I wanted was to be happy. All I wanted was a life where I didn't have to think about my dead parents, or Irrith, who's also dead. I didn't want to think about my past, where I was forced to fear for my life, and for the lives of those around me. And when you, Cynder… When you came into my life, I wasn't sure how to handle it.

"I _wanted_ to try and be your friend, I really did, but I couldn't get my parents out of my head. I _hated_ you for it, for bringing the memories back. And I put you down and said all those horrible things. I hurt you when you needed comfort. I called you names, and I was mean to you. And I regret it! I don't deserve any forgiveness or empathy from you! All I deserve is a beating, a savage punishment! Why can't you give that to me instead?!"

"Because you _don't_ deserve it! That's the _last_ thing you deserve now! You're not in the best state mentally, I can see that! I just want to be there to help you! Like a _friend_!" Cynder explained.

Electrika choked on her tears, before shoving a potato in her mouth to try and distract her from her crying. "I don't deserve a friend like you! That's the _last_ thing I deserve!" she said with a mouthful of potato.

"Can't you at least _try_ to let me help you?!" Cynder shouted, a lot more intensely than she intended, causing Electrika to jump backwards with fear. "I'm sorry, Electrika. I didn't mean for that to come out as harsh as it did."

"It's not your fault I'm jumpy. I'm scared. I'm a mess. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know who to turn to. And it's all because of what happened last night, and I'm sorry about that too! I disobeyed you. I tried to be the leader, tried to make it look like I knew more than you. I tried to take revenge on Spyro and the dark dragons that attacked us, took our families, our friends, and many other innocent lives. I thought I could do a good job at it. But then I realised I was young. I was scared! I was _inexperienced_! _And I was a COWARD_! I couldn't face my social problems; and I realised, if I couldn't solve my problems with you, how could I solve this massive problem, where innocent dragons were dying because I brought them here?

"I couldn't sleep last night. The blood, the screams… everything… It was all getting to me, and what you did. What you did to save me. I couldn't believe that you would do that for me. I've already said this before, but I saw you, even though you might not have, and you _protected_ us, and let us escape Dark Peak _safely_ , to the point where you were the _last_ to leave. What kind of person would do that? I realised that the answer was a friend. Something I _should_ have been. But I wasn't. I was a horrible friend, Cynder."

Electrika let out a moan, raising a claw to wipe her tears. She then grabbed her last piece of venison and shoved it in her mouth, chewing vigorously before swallowing. "This is my last meal here Cynder, before I leave. I'm sorry to say that I won't be coming back, but I just can't stay here. I can't live here anymore. I just want the hurting to stop." Electrika sobbed, averting her gaze from Cynder's. "I can't take it anymore! I need to… I need to… I… I…"

Suddenly, pieces started clicking in Cynder's head, but before she reached a conclusion, Aerus reached it before her, screaming out a warning. "CYNDER! SHE'S ABOUT TO…!"

By the time she had caught on, they were both too late.

In a swift move, Electrika brought her tailblade up and sliced it cleanly through her throat. Blood sprayed out of the wound, and with a pained gurgle and a savage, bloody cough, Electrika fell to the ground. Cynder got up and ran around the table to catch Electrika, but she was too late. Electrika lay on the ground, her throat stained red with her own blood, which was also spilling from her mouth from her cough earlier. Her eyes were rolled back into her skull, and her blood-stained tailblade now lay on the ground.

Cynder realised all the hints of this earlier, and she let out a grief-stricken roar. "WHY?! WHY WAS I SO BLIND?! I COULD HAVE _STOPPED_ THIS!" she cried, before lowering her head and crying for Electrika. She spent a few moments crying intensely, before she calmed herself down. She spoke to Aerus, voice hoarse with emotion. "The signs were all there, leading up to this. The depression, the situation of 'leaving Warfang', all the ranting about how scared and depressed she was… It was all there, and now she's committed suicide! And I couldn't _stop_ her!"

"It's not your fault, Cynder." Aerus murmured, his voice wobbly and raw with emotion too.

"I _know_ , but I could have stopped it! I could have helped her! I don't know how she fell this low so quickly!"

Cynder looked at Aerus, who just shrugged. Tears streamed down his face too. His bottom lip quivered, and it looked like he was reliving the deaths of his parents again. He had experienced so much death recently, and watching someone die, let alone commit suicide, is not an easy thing to witness.

Cynder needed to know if this was real… if this was actually happening. She closed her eyes tight and prayed that this was just a terrible nightmare. She punched herself in the face, before she opened her eyes and found herself in the exact same place as before, staring at Electrika's corpse. Cynder swore, slamming her paw on the ground, emotions welling up in her once more. Her bottom lip quivering, she looked up towards the ceiling, before beginning a small prayer. "Dear Electrika, find peace with the ancestors, and safe travels. And dear ancestors, please look after her, and give her the love she needed. The love I couldn't give to her." she murmured, before she lowered her head and continued mourning.

"I'm sorry." Aerus murmured after a while.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault." Cynder replied.

"It wasn't hers either."

"I know. But I forgive her."

 _Thank you._ Cynder felt a voice whisper in her ear. She knew it was Electrika. She reached forward and closed Electrika's eyes as a sign of respect.

Cynder sighed and stood, before she and Aerus walked out of Electrika's house, loneliness and sadness swelling upon them.

* * *

 **Here we go again, more death! I've killed lots of characters in _Demonised_ … and now Electrika's among those dead dragons.**

 **Anyway, how was the chapter? The first section of it eventually had to get rewritten completely, and I can say it's heaps better than the crap I originally had. I also had to rewrite Electrika's scene. It was originally done the same way I did Ulfitz's scene in _Broken Perceptions_ , which you'll probably remember (if you've read _Broken Perceptions_ ). The Electrika scene was written first and therefore the original, and was written _heaps_ better than the Ulfitz scene, but I didn't want this to be too similar to _Broken Perceptions_ , so I scrapped it and rewrote Electrika's scene, and again, it's much better than the original version.**

 **Also I'm in summer holidays now so I have eight weeks to do… lots of stuff. Yeah, I make the holidays very busy for myself and some things just don't get done. But yeah, hopefully chapters get pumped out much quicker than usual (depending on how quick my beta-reader takes to get back to me though), and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **...**

 **Sun Fury:** **'Lol' is probably not the right word to describe last chapter lol, but yes, it was pretty brutal. That's just the nature of _Demonised_ , I guess.**

 **Guest:** **Don't want to spoil anything, but here's to hoping, too. (of course, I already know how the entire _Purple Legacy_ series ends so I already know what happens)**

 **...**

 **Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next chapter! Bye!**


	27. Chapter 26: History

"Wow… these… these past few weeks have been quite hellish, haven't they?" Rubblerust asked with a sigh, breaking the silence after Cynder told him, Pyron and Freeze about Electrika's suicide while they ate lunch. Ten days had passed since her suicide, and it had taken Cynder a long time to get over it enough to tell them. They never spoke with Electrika after she abandoned her friendship with Cynder, and so to hear that she had suddenly committed suicide when trying to make amends with Cynder was extremely shocking to them. Freeze appeared to be the most shaken.

"Yeah, more than you know." Cynder replied forlornly. "But I… I'm okay. You don't have to worry about me."

"No, Cynder. I'm your friend. If you're struggling, I can't _help_ but worry. I'm sorry I haven't been around for you during the past few days, and I really wish I have been. I've had to help out my family with their own grief. My uncle died in the most recent siege, and Mum isn't taking it too well." Rubblerust explained.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Cynder muttered, taking another bite of her meal.

"It's alright, Cynder. I just… I just also wish I could have been there for you as well, helping you out with your own problems. That's what friends do. With all that's gone on with you recently, I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now."

"Rubblerust is right, Cynder." Freeze said. "And I also want to say that you shouldn't blame yourself for everything that's going on. None of it is your fault."

"I can't help but blame myself. All this… the death, the pain, the bloodshed… it just reminds me of the Dark War. Of everything I _did_. Of everything I _witnessed_. I was a _monster_. It didn't help with Electrika as of recently reminding me of it until she… until she died last night." Cynder said with a shudder. "And now _Spyro_ has been pulled into this dark hellhole, and _he's_ the one _causing_ this. All on his own accord! He hasn't even been possessed by _anything_! He just up and _turned_ on us, turned on _me_ , the damned _worm_!" She slammed her paw down on the table that they had been eating at. Small amounts of her food bounced off the plate, but Pyron, Freeze and Rubblerust's plates of food stayed relatively untouched by the vibrations in the table. They jumped back in shock at Cynder's act of rage.

"Cynder, calm down, please!" Pyron pleaded. "Don't make a scene!"

" _He_ did this!" Cynder spat through clenched teeth and hoarse breaths, spittle flying from her lips. "It's all _his_ fault! He's not a puppet like _I_ was! I want _nothing_ to do with him anymore!"

"Cynder, listen to me." Pyron said, and Cynder looked up at him, glaring daggers at the red dragon, who wilted under her angry gaze for a short while before recomposing himself with a shaky breath. "It may be his fault, but you can react to this situation much better than you are now. You're in charge of a whole army now. You need to be a role model to them. And we want the nice, calm Cynder back. _Your friends_ want the nice, calm Cynder back. I know you're stressed; we all are. But try not to lose yourself, your _true_ self. _Please_."

Cynder looked away from Pyron, before nodding, and picking up her half-devoured deer leg and took a large bite of it, taking off a little bit of bone as well, as a loud crunch went through the air as she forcefully broke the bone. Pyron, Freeze and Rubblerust looked up at Cynder with worry, and she stopped chewing, raising a claw and picking out the snapped bone pieces from her mouth, placing them gently on the plate, before continuing to chew up her food, before swallowing.

Freeze sighed. Pyron and Rubblerust continued eating, too, but the ice dragoness couldn't bring herself to put another piece of food in her mouth. She honestly felt like throwing up the three bites of venison that she had swallowed earlier, just before Cynder had started to get angry. Freeze enjoyed being friends with Cynder, but to be completely honest, Freeze was also pretty scared of Cynder. Her anger scared Freeze. It scared Pyron and Rubblerust too, but she showed it the most. And it wasn't just Cynder's anger that had put Freeze off eating, but it was also Cynder's explanation of everything that had been going on recently. Cynder had just explained everything to them just now, including her parents' deaths, something she had only mentioned to the Warfang Army the day she and Aerus returned from Dark Peak, as well as Electrika's suicide. The current events in Cynder's life were making Freeze really concerned about the dark purple dragoness' wellbeing, and she wanted to help her.

Wanting to distract Cynder from her anger and depression, and hoping to lighten her spirits, she asked, "How's Aerus? You enjoying being with him? Getting to know him? Is he like… Is he like how you thought a brother would be?"

Cynder put down the deer leg, swallowing the last bit of venison in her mouth, before replying. "Yeah, he's fine. I'd always wanted family, and I'm so glad I was able to find him. He's still rather shy around me, though. He's told me a few bits of his own life; I wanted to know what _his_ childhood was like as mine's kind of well-known and he knows the majority of it already. He could tell some parts of his life without crying, but most of the time, he would burst into tears." Cynder explained. "His parents were butchered before his eyes, and he has no contact with his friends. He wants to go back to Typhaar to visit them, and to be honest, I do too, so I can see what his life was like, but the trip would be too dangerous. To go in a straight line to Typhaar, we'd have to pass Dark Peak, as well as the Blackened Desert. So basically, until the war ends, or something happens where we need to go to Typhaar urgently, we're not going to be going there _anytime_ soon."

"The Blackened Desert?" Rubblerust asked. "Isn't that the place where the deciding battle during the war with the sinister dragons was fought?"

"Yeah, I think so." Freeze said.

"Sinister dragons? What are they?" Cynder asked.

"What, do you not know?" Rubblerust asked with shock in his voice.

"Cynder didn't do Ancient Dragon History during school, like me." Pyron reminded, rolling his eyes, and Cynder nodded in confirmation at Pyron's last statement.

"Right, I forgot." Rubblerust murmured. "Freeze and I were the only ones here that did Ancient Dragon History."

"Care to explain what these sinister dragons are, then?" Cynder asked.

"The sinister dragons are… they're kind of a weird species of dragons." Freeze explained. "They were the ones who actually introduced torture into the Dragon Realms. Prison and violence had been around for a long time, but until the sinister dragons came around, torture hadn't existed. The thought of using sadistic acts of violence and teasing either to try and force information out of someone, or just for fun even, was unheard of before the sinister dragons appeared. The sinister dragons came into existence about ten million years ago and became extinct about five million years later. They were a strange mutation of the elements that already exist, including some of the dark elements that had existed for fifteen million years, and the respective dragons went extinct five hundred thousand years after the first sinister dragons were born. The sinister elements were lava, a mutation of fire; plasma, mutation of electricity; sound, a mutation of fear; alchemy; and sinister, the element category's namesake, which also allowed dragons to use all of the sinister elements on top of the sinister element's own powers. Alchemy dragons, more commonly known as just alchemists, are probably the weirdest one, because they had no real element, but they were able to cast lots of weird spells; they were the closest we have to the wizards of the non-dragon tribes. They're all pretty dangerous; they were labelled, even when the dark dragons were around, as the most dangerous dragon species in existence. No dragon species have gotten close to beating that title, apart from probably Spyro's army as of now, and a few individuals, namely Malefor and Spyro."

"So wait, lava is a…? Oh, no…" Cynder murmured, her breathing getting faster and more irregular as she began to panic.

"Cynder, calm down. Calm down. Deep breaths." Pyron soothed. "Breathe with me. In, and out. In, and out. Good. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Y-y-yeah, I'm fine." Cynder stammered.

"Sure you are." Rubblerust deadpanned. "What caused that little panic attack?"

"Spyro now has _another_ four elements in his arsenal! Back in Dark Peak he used a lava projection. He can already bend lava to his will!" Cynder cried. "And you said that the sinister elements were 'the most dangerous' ones, which means that if he has control of all of the sinister elements, then dear ancestors, he's more dangerous than we thought!"

"But that… that shouldn't be possible, should it? If there's one thing I remember from when Freeze was practising one of her orals on the topic, it was that purple dragons cannot inherit the use of sinister elements, like the dark elements." Pyron muttered.

"Actually, that's not true. You must have missed the next part of it that is equally as important. Like dark elements, a purple dragon can inherit sinister elements if the genes come directly from the parents or grandparents." Freeze corrected. "Any further back or anywhere else in the family completely disables the ability to inherit it. Of course dark elements can also be inherited due to exposure to darkness, but the point still stands."

"Well then that means that…" Rubblerust said, his voice rising with fear as he gulped. "That means that someone in Spyro's family was a sinister dragon. And that means…"

He trailed off, not wanting to speak his fears out loud. Freeze was the one to speak them. "…that the sinister dragons are not extinct." she breathed.

"They were wiped out millions of years ago! How could they have survived all this time, all these millions of years, without being seen _once_?!" Rubblerust exclaimed.

"If you don't mind me asking, how'd the sinister dragons _become_ extinct in the first place?" Cynder asked. "Or… 'thought-to-be-extinct', since we know they're still alive due to Spyro. Somehow."

"The regular elemental dragons warred with the sinister dragons on and off over the five million years they were around." Rubblerust explained. "The wars were pretty bad, but most of the information has been lost over the extra five million years between now and the extinction of the sinister dragons, although we still do have very important info lying around, which we had to study during Ancient Dragon History. It was pretty interesting, to say the least. Apparently, the sinister dragon species went extinct after a large elemental discharge in the Blackened Desert that killed of all life there, including the desert. That's why it's called the _Blackened_ Desert. And apparently every sinister dragon was there during that fight, so that's why they were all killed off. It's believed that either the elemental discharge was the cause of a purple dragon or the cause of the ancestors. No one knows which one it is to this day."

Cynder raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Obviously, some of them managed to make it out alive. My other guess would be that not _all_ of them were during the battle at the Blackened Desert. But… I've just remembered something Freeze mentioned earlier that I can't really get out of my head. Dark elements have existed for an extra fifteen million years before the sinister dragons' birth? I thought that Malefor created them." Cynder questioned.

"No, he didn't. Even _I_ knew that, and _I_ didn't do Ancient Dragon History." Pyron scoffed. "The dark elements weren't _created_ by Malefor, although the dark elements were _used_ by him, and lots of other dark lords before him; most of them weren't purple dragons, but there were about two hundred and something who _were_."

"There were _more_ purple dark lords _other_ than Malefor and Spyro? I knew some other types of dragons fell to darkness and converted themselves, but I didn't know there were more _purple_ ones!" Cynder exclaimed.

"The phenomenon doesn't happen _often_ ; what we have with Spyro's corruption happening _immediately_ after Malefor's defeat, pretty much, is quite rare." Freeze explained. "But yes, other purple dragons _have_ fallen to darkness; I'm pretty sure the total number of recorded corrupted purples was around two hundred." Cynder's eyes widened with shock at the number, but Freeze kept going. "I think the name of one of them was Salrorh, famous for his use of almost every element known to dragonkind, including sinister elements, as his mother was an alchemist, and _her_ mother a lava dragoness. It now seems Spyro's joining Salrorh with this feat, which is kind of worrying, knowing how strong Salrorh _was_ , and how strong Spyro _is_. Also, while two hundred corrupt purples may sound like a lot, there have been a little over two thousand purple dragons recorded in history as of now; there may be more, so it's not _as much_ in comparison to the bigger picture."

"It's still ten percent, which is fairly frequent, though." Pyron muttered under his breath, but his words went unheeded.

"So… with these dark dragons… were they like the ones we know now?" Cynder asked. "Like the venomfangs and shadowclaws?"

"No. The venomfangs and shadowclaws are merely mutations of those elements, and Spyro's own creation. And to be honest, most of the dark dragons of ancient times were actually quite peaceful, although they _were_ still quite prone to… violent outbursts… just to say the least." Rubblerust said.

They sat in silence, and continued eating their meals, including Freeze, who had gotten her appetite back. Cynder was the first one done. "Well, thank you for the… interesting… history lesson, guys." Cynder said, standing up and stretching once she had finished her meal.

"No problem." Pyron boasted, puffing out his chest, only to be slapped in the cheek by Freeze, a large grin on her face.

"You didn't even do half the work! You can't take all the credit for it!" Freeze chuckled, and Pyron just stuck his tongue out at her.

"It's alright, Freeze and Rubblerust." Cynder said, and Pyron began to pout childishly. "I've got to head back to work. It was nice catching up with you, so I'll see you around."

"See you, Cynder. Hopefully you get better!" Pyron called.

"And it was good talking about less… stressful… topics." Freeze added.

"It sure was. I think it was good to get my mind of current events, so thanks again, guys. It… It does worry me a lot though, knowing Spyro has access to the sinister elements. I mean, who knows what he could do with them? For all we know, the lava projection could have been the easiest thing possible, and I don't want to know what things like plasma, sound, and the amalgamation of all of them, sinister, can do. I guess I'll have to… _try_ and prepare myself… Hopefully the knowledge we have is enough to prepare." Cynder said, before she turned and left the restaurant.

Rubblerust turned to Pyron and Freeze with a sly smile on his face. "I don't know how we got caught up talking about draconic history, but it distracted Cynder from her grief for a while, so… I guess we did good." he said, shrugging.

Pyron nodded, taking a whopping big bite of his hunk of steak, before starting to choke on the lump of meat. Freeze slapped him on the back a few times, and he coughed up a few flecks of spit and meat, before finally swallowing his food. "Smaller bites, next time." Freeze said with a laugh.

* * *

 **I'm back. Phew.**

 **I am so very sorry for not updating this story over the past two, almost three months. If you've been keeping up-to-date on my profile, you may know what's been happening, but for those who don't know, I'll say it here. (big A/N incoming because there's a lot that's been happening over these two to three months that I need to address)**

 **I needed to rewrite the majority of the second half of _Demonised_. The main premise of it has remained the same, but heaps of it has changed from the original version I had finished writing last year. There were lots of character development and plot issues that came up, and it came to the point where my poor planning and rushed writing from last year finally caught up to bite me. I'm just glad it happened early-on in the _Purple Legacy_ series rather than near the end. But knowing how long _Purple Legacy_ will end up being, I wouldn't be surprised if some big issue popped up again.**

 **But I've currently rewritten up to Chapter 34 and replanned up to Chapter 42, so I've gotten a _bit_ of progress since I've been gone. But because of the slow progress this will take, updates will be a _hell_ of a lot more spaced out. School's also started up as well and it's my final year, so I've been trying to dedicate more time to school since I got distracted by many different things all throughout last year, and I want to try and improve.**

 **I won't go too into detail on what's going on with _Demonised_ , but that's the gist of it.**

 **I also want to address my other two stories. On a high note, _Broken Perceptions_ hit over 50K views back in late December, and with one year having been gone since I started posting it, it's absolutely crazy to see how far it's come and how popular it is. Anyone here who's read _Broken Perceptions_ , thanks for all the support, and same with _Demonised_. _Demonised_ is almost at 5K views in eight months, so it's not as popular, but I kind of expected that, and I just thank everyone who's read my work.**

 **It's the same with _Bitten_ , and here's where the low note comes in. _Bitten_ needs to be put on a hiatus. It's hard to write, and right now, I really need to focus on _Demonised_ and _Purple Legacy_ to make it the best it can be. I want to improve the _Fazbear_ series, sure, but I don't think I can redeem it to the point where it can match my writing of _Broken Perceptions_ and _Purple Legacy_ , especially while working on them simultaneously, so _Bitten_ will be put on a short hiatus for a bit, until I've fixed up _Demonised_ and done a bit more of _Purple Legacy_ in terms of Parts 2 and 3 at least. So to everybody who's been reading _Bitten_ as well, I'm very sorry to say that it won't be updated for a while. I'll try to get a chapter up every once in a while, maybe once I finish rewriting _Demonised_ I might upload another chapter, but DO NOT hold that to me. I have no promises involving _Bitten_. I do like _Bitten_ (I actually kind of have a love-hate relationship for it, as some of you may know from some of my A/Ns in _Bitten_ ), and it does annoy me that I have to put it aside like this, but my _Spyro_ fanfics have always been my biggest priority and always will, and with this big rewrite that's popped up for _Demonised_ , it means _Bitten_ has to be thrown in the 'do later' list. Again, I'm sorry for this.**

 **…**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **Yeah I'm not surprised about your confusion about how to feel about Electrika. I guess this means I wrote Electrika a lot better than I thought I did, especially when she fell into her depression in the last chapter. I actually had someone message me on DeviantArt saying Electrika was their favourite character, so that kind of stunned me for a bit lol.**

 **The first section of that chapter that I rewrote? It was honestly crap. Nothing really changed story-wise, but it was the way it was written that was pretty terrible.**

 **And yes, Ulfitz was the one you compared to Sayori/Yuri. Originally Electrika was going to be found in her room dead, like Ulfitz (not necessarily hanged; she slit her throat like in the final version of last chapter), but as I said, I didn't want to repeat myself with such a similar theme to _Broken Perceptions_ , so I ended up having Electrika commit suicide in front of Cynder and Aerus.**

 **Also, your comment on Cynder attempting suicide. First, I didn't think of the mirror with connecting Cynder and Electrika's suicidal thoughts together, so nice spotting there. Second, Cynder didn't actually get 'saved' in the nick of time, like you say she did. If you remember, she did slice her neck, but she had missed and cut too low, where the neck connects with the collarbones/shoulders, meaning that she never made it to death. Had her aim been accurate, she would have killed herself.**

 **…**

 **So yeah, that's this chapter done. Hopefully you enjoyed and managed to get back into the swing of things. It'll likely be a while before Chapter 27 comes out. But if you have any questions, leave a review or PM me. I'll try to respond as quick as I can. If you're a guest, you'll probably have to wait a while (so yeah sorry Derick Lindsey that the response took almost three months), or get an account so you can PM me or I can reply to reviews via PMs.**

 **Anyway, see you all later. (this was a long A/N lol)**


	28. Chapter 27: Assault on Urgussen

Upon getting back to the barracks, Cynder had been approached by Jupal, who she had assigned to be the personal trainer for Kryton, the new recruit who had signed up with Electrika. Over the past ten days of training, Jupal had deemed him fit enough to head into regular training without him, as had Cynder. For a final test before they allowed him to do his own training, they decided to put him in a duel against Molron and Tyrax, before they would take him over to fight a shadowclaw or two. At this point for him, a venomfang was too risky.

So, they had gotten Molron in the ring with Kryton first. Cynder started the match and immediately they sprang into action. Molron aimed several swipes at Kryton, but the ice dragon sidestepped nimbly, dodging all the attacks. A few fireballs were spat out of Molron's maw, and Kryton dodged them too, but only just. Kryton made the next move of charging at Molron, head turned downwards so the horns were pointing dangerously at Molron's body. Molron lowered his head, catching Kryton's horns with his own as they tried to push down on each other with horns interlocked. Molron won that battle as he thrust his head forward, catching Kryton off guard as he stumbled backwards, then threw his head down causing Kryton to crash to the ground. Molron raised his head up and inhaled to breathe fire over the ice dragon's face, but he scrambled up to his paws and leapt out of the way quickly. Molron took a while to register what had happened, and when he did, he ceased his inferno and looked up at Kryton, ready to counter his next move.

Kryton was quick to breathe a few rapid beams of ice at Molron. The red dragon, however, was too slow to step away, causing his forepaws to become encased in ice, frozen to the ground. Molron raised his tailblade to cut through the ice, but Kryton shot two more ice beams at his tail, the first knocking it out of the air, causing it to land on the ground with a thud, and the second freezing it to the ground as well. Molron turned to breathe fire at his paws to melt them out, only to have Kryton run around him to punch him in the back of the head, ceasing the stream of fire. Kryton leapt back, before preparing to use another beam of ice, but Molron was quicker, turning and letting out a stream of fire at Kryton. He stumbled back with a groan, flapping his wings frantically at the fire. Now Molron turned back to his paws, in which he had melted enough of the ice now that he could break through the ice with brute force.

He was still grounded by the tail, and Kryton used this to his advantage. Kryton ran back around and leapt on top of Molron from behind where his frozen tail couldn't protect him, and began to claw Molron's back. Molron thrashed his upper body about, and Kryton began to lose his balance, before Molron eventually bucked Kryton off him. Molron quickly shot a hot fireball at the ice on his tail. It didn't do much, but now he could crack the ice around his tail by trying to move it.

Molron paused to stand up, wiggling his tail back and forth once he was on all four paws to try and break through the ice. Kryton lunged at him to distract him once more, but Molron raised a claw and scratched Kryton across the snout, causing a thin stream of blood to start rolling down his cyan scales, and for him to step backwards. Molron finally got the chance to break his tail free, allowing him to move freely once more.

Molron tackled Kryton to the ground, and bit down on his neck, drawing blood, but Kryton raised his icicle-like tailblade and sliced it across Molron's hind leg. Molron groaned and hissed in pain, letting go of Kryton and stumbling off him, before raising the wounded leg off the ground. It wasn't badly wounded – the wound Molron had left on Kryton's snout was actually worse (only just by a little bit) – but it hurt a lot, mainly because Kryton had sliced across a muscle rather than a more structured part of the body.

Kryton stood and released two heavy ice missiles, hitting Molron in the side of the head with them, causing Molron to fall to the ground, his head bleeding where the ice missiles had hit. Molron's nose was bleeding as well due to the brute force of the ice missiles causing his head to whip back. Kryton placed a paw on Molron's head, pinning him to the ground, before swinging his tailblade around and holding it in front of Molron's throat.

Cynder gave it three seconds before she pronounced Kryton as the winner and ended the match. "Good job, Kryton. You did well." Molron said as Kryton helped him to his paws.

"Thanks." Kryton panted, wiping his sweaty forehead with the back of his left forepaw.

"Alright, Kryton, you won." Cynder said with a smile.

Tyrax scoffed next to her. "He won't do so well against me. I'm sure I can win!" he exclaimed.

Cynder turned to Tyrax with a glum face. "Don't get cocky, Tyrax. Remember what cockiness did to you last time you were in the ring?" she deadpanned.

Tyrax's eyes widened. Last time he was in the ring was with her, and that did not go well once he was brought down by her siren scream. He averted his gaze on her with embarrassment, before nodding and muttering an acknowledgement.

Cynder turned back to Kryton. "Go and heal up if you feel you need to, and we'll start your match with Tyrax when you're…"

"General Cynder!" a voice exclaimed, and a young she-cheetah barged her way into the room.

"Whoa, whoa! Who allowed you to get in?!" Cynder replied.

"I barged my way in, I'm sorry, but these three letters just came in addressed to the military of Warfang, _urgent_." the she-cheetah panted, holding out three small letters. " _Extremely_ urgent!"

Cynder looked at Jupal and Tyrax with concern. Vetar, who had been doing some training with a few other guys in the same room, had walked over and caught the last two sentences of the she-cheetah's, and gave Cynder a concerned look of his own, which she then returned, before walking over to the she-cheetah. "Alright, let me see those." Cynder said.

Cynder took the pieces of parchment from the she-cheetah, who now seemed to shrink in on herself. She unfolded them, and her face fell as she read the first one. As she read the second and third, her expression became more and more worried. The second one was pretty badly blood-spattered too, as if it had been written by a dying dragon.

 _Larentine under attack by strange dragons that spit poison. Black dragon by the name of Drachen leading them. Send help; they're after the children._

 _Kyrondyke under siege. Black-scaled dragons with purple markings on them are attacking, and it seems they're after the younglings. There's a big version of them too that can talk. Send reinforcements; about fifty dead._

 _Urgussen currently under assault. Please send help. Big purple dragon is leading the siege. He claims he's the Saviour. Poison dragons are there, too. They want the young ones._

" _All_ three of them?!" Cynder exclaimed. "What in the ancestors' names is Spyro up to?!"

Everyone just stared in silence at the notes, before Cynder started barking orders. "Jupal, go grab everyone from the physical training room. Vetar, fetch everyone in the magical training room. Bring them all here, okay?" Cynder ordered, before she quickly raised her voice to address everyone in the room. "EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING! Something's just come up; briefing will commence shortly!"

Soon the room became filled with dragons, and Cynder began the briefing. "Okay everyone, I've just received three letters saying that three of the minor dragon cities, Larentine, Kyrondyke and Urgussen, are all under attack by Spyro's forces. Apparently Spyro himself is leading the siege on Urgussen." she announced. "We need to go over there and help now."

"But… that's _three_ of them!" a dragon cried out. "Shouldn't we just focus on the one in the most trouble right now? Say Urgussen, where Spyro is?"

"Yes, Yammeth, but they're _all_ after the _children_."

Gasps echoed around the room, and it was unanimously decided then and there due to the mention of children being the target that all three cities needed immediate attention. Cynder inhaled to get things set up. "Attack parties of about fifteen should suffice. You've all had enough practice with the shadowclaws and venomfangs, although I now realise that I probably should have spent more time with training for the venomfangs; two of the three cities are under siege by venomfangs; I can't be in both at once. I will be heading to Urgussen, where Spyro is. I want answers from him. I will put Vetar in charge of one of the patrols, and Apata in charge of the other. You can choose where you all go, and I want you to pick fifteen to twenty dragons to go with you." she ordered.

"I'll go to where the venomfangs are; I've had slightly more experience with them having fought them in actual battle." Vetar volunteered.

"Alright, you'll be going to Larentine, and Apata will be going to Kyrondyke. Just be warned, Vetar, that Drachen will be there. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes." Vetar and Apata replied in unison.

"Take who you want, but I'd prefer it if Vetar took some of the dragons who were in the siege who battled the venomfangs, as with me. Blitz fought them, so he can go with you. The other dragons who fought in the siege with Logron, who were they?"

"Marnix, Trevor, Schugarh, Prekia, and Ujuron." a dragon replied. "Ujuron didn't make it."

"Alright. Since there's four, and I need some dragons who know venomfangs, I'll take two and Vetar can take the other two. I'll take Marnix and Prekia; they seem strong and up to the task. We'll have Drachen on our tails, too, so that's another one to look out for, but if I can, I'll take him on. I'll take Tyrax, too; he also knows venomfangs. I also want to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, like he going to Dark Peak and forcing me to use my siren scream on him."

"I'm never going to live those ones down…" Tyrax murmured under his breath. Cynder scoffed.

They spent another five minutes organising attack parties; Cynder's contained eighteen dragons, Vetar's contained seventeen, and Apata's contained twenty. They all turned to leave to their respective destinations, before Cynder turned to the dragons still remaining. "Stay on alert. If any attackers come to Warfang, we need you to be ready." Cynder said, receiving nods and murmurs of acknowledgement.

Then she left with her party.

* * *

About forty minutes later, they arrived at Urgussen, the little dragon city of art and beauty, brought to a hideous wreck as rubble and broken, bloodied dragons ran around frantically, trying to protect their friends and family, themselves, or just trying to get out. The sounds of screaming hit her ears, but no sound was more prominent that the hideous, grating sound of children wailing and screaming, a sound she was all too familiar with after Forzen was stolen from her. She couldn't see any corpses scattering the ground yet, to Cynder's relief. But she didn't think it would be that case for much longer.

And the children were the target. What did Spyro even want with them?

They descended and were attacked almost immediately by dozens of venomfangs. There were even a few shadowclaws there, too. Blood was drawn almost immediately, as Cynder tried to defend herself and the dragons with her from the evil dragons. Cynder and Tyrax fought side by side, slashing viciously at the venomfangs that attacked them relentlessly. Two venomfangs leapt at them, and Cynder thrust her head forward, skewering one of the venomfangs on her horns, before she threw her head sideways, slamming the skewered venomfang into the other that had landed on Tyrax, throwing them both to the ground. Dark green blood streamed from the chest of the venomfang she had skewered, but it rose, unfazed by the hideous amount of blood that dripped from its wounds.

Marnix, a burly earth dragon, leapt on top of them and hacked his way into the head of one of the venomfangs, killing it, until the other one clamped its jaws around Marnix's leg, drawing a gushing stream of blood. Marnix kicked out savagely, trying to shake the venomfang off him, but it didn't work. The venomfang pulled Marnix down to the ground as they both wrestled, the venomfang still holding onto Marnix's leg, now mauled and bloody, with all its might as Marnix thrashed about on the floor trying to get the venomfang's jaws off his leg. Cynder lunged at the tangled mess of Marnix and the venomfang, before she plunged her tailblade cleanly into the venomfang's head between its eyes. There was a shattering sound as the light in the dragon's eyes faded, and it lay dead. Marnix pried open the venomfang's maw and wrenched his leg free, groaning as it suddenly began to twitch spasmodically. "The thing's damn fangs were coated with venom! It managed to inject me with a bit of it!" he cried.

Cynder shoved her hind paw into Marnix's ugly wound and called on her poison element to remove it right as a shadowclaw lunged at her. With only her jaws, front claws, and next to no room to manoeuvre, she struggled to fight it. Eventually, she managed to get her jaws around the shadowclaw's neck, before throwing it to the ground. At that moment, the poison ceased to enter her body from Marnix's, and she knew she had gotten it all. She pulled her hind paw free with a spray of blood and leapt on top of the shadowclaw, which was attempting to stand, before she quickly ran her tailblade through its neck, separating its head from its body. Marnix muttered his gratitude before he was downed by a shadowclaw, and he fought fiercely, despite his weak, bloodied leg. "Are you alright, Cynder?" she heard Tyrax ask her.

"I'm fine!" she cried, turning around to look at him, before adding, "Tyrax, behind you!"

Tyrax looked behind him just in time to dodge a set of jaws that were aimed at his throat. The shadowclaw snarled with annoyance as it turned and slashed at Tyrax's left flank, drawing blood. Cynder lunged at it, before she was tackled to the ground by another venomfang, venom spilling down from its jaws. Cynder let out a siren scream, and the venomfang fell down on top of her with a screech. She threw the dragon off her, before bringing her tailblade down on its neck forcefully, slicing off its head, sending dark green blood splattering everywhere.

She turned to Tyrax and the shadowclaw and paused for a moment. Tyrax was on the ground, both forepaws in the air, each paw holding a firm grasp on the shadowclaw's jaws as it tried to bite down around his neck. Tyrax groaned as he tried to throw the shadowclaw off him, but it lashed out with its own claws, slashing them across both his shoulders and leaving an ugly, bloody wound on them. He let go of the shadowclaw as his arms numbed and fell to his side, shouting in pain, and the shadowclaw quickly bit down on Tyrax's neck with a spurt of dark blood. Cynder lunged at them, grabbing the shadowclaw and hauling it off Tyrax. The shadowclaw took a huge chunk of Tyrax's flesh and scales with it, causing a huge amount of blood to squirt from the bite wound and filling her ears with the terrible sound of tearing, ripping flesh. The shadowclaw growled in protest, before Cynder quickly shoved her tailblade into the shadowclaw's chest, shattering the crystal inside it, and it went still, black gore swelling from the wound.

Three venomfangs then lunged at Cynder and Tyrax. Cynder let out a siren scream at one of them, and it staggered backwards, screeching. One of the soldiers Cynder had taken with her named Ibrim, a lean, speedy ice dragon covered in indigo spikes all over his body, crept up behind it, slashing at the back of its neck savagely, green blood spurting everywhere. The venomfang turned around with a roar, before Ibrim cut out both of its eyes with a heavy swing of his claws. He then began hacking his way in between the empty sockets, killing the venomfang as the energy crystal inside its head was clawed apart.

Ibrim called out a warning as a fourth venomfang leapt behind Cynder, and she dodged it. The venomfang that had leapt out at her slammed into the venomfang she was fighting with a loud clunk, and they fell to the ground, groaning and roaring in pain. Cynder quickly cut off the head of one of them. The other venomfang spat venom at Ibrim, who ducked as the glob of poison flew over his head. The venomfang leapt to its paws, but Cynder tackled it to the ground again, closing her jaws around the venomfang's neck. Placing both her forepaws down forcefully on the venomfang's flank, she yanked her head upwards, taking the venomfang's head with her with a massive spurt of gore.

She remembered Spyro had killed her mother the same way. She groaned as she shook her head, shoving the thought away.

Tyrax let out a scream from beside her.

She and Ibrim looked towards Tyrax, who was on the ground again, pinned underneath the venomfang that he had been fighting. Cynder was too slow to react as the venomfang spewed up a large amount of venom, which splattered all over Tyrax's chest, and the terrible sizzling began. She screamed in protest, running to Tyrax's aid, before the venomfang lunged at her, as did a shadowclaw. Scowling, she swung her claws and tailblade about viciously, dealing lots of vicious, savage wounds on the dark dragons she was fighting, but none of the wounds were fatal to the dragons. She'd even split a lung of the shadowclaw in half, black blood streaming from its chest, but it was unfazed. The venomfang lunged at her, jaws open wide, showing off a mouth of dark green flesh, spit and venom, completed with large fangs, some of which had been torn out from the roots with Cynder's relentless attacks. Ibrim leapt at it, pinning it to the ground. It thrashed wildly underneath him, before it shook Ibrim off it. It quickly got to all fours, before lunging at Ibrim in a similar fashion that it had just charged Cynder. Ibrim thrusted his tailblade forward, shoving it into the depths of the venomfang's maw, and it let out a pained gurgle. Ibrim withdrew his weapon, bringing large amounts of saliva and thick green blood with it, and the venomfang squealed in pain before Ibrim cut its head off. The disembodied head flew towards Cynder and the shadowfang she was fighting, and she ducked, letting the venomfang's head soar over her and into the face of the shadowfang. It groaned in confusion, the dark green blood splattering on its face. The dragon looked at the head that landed on the ground in front of its paws, and it let out a blood-curdling yowl of anger, before Cynder cut off its head.

She heard a mix between a gurgle and a scream from beside her, and she remembered Tyrax with a shocked gasp. She ran to his side, but at the state he was in, she knew she was too late. He convulsed wildly, foaming at the mouth, and blood streamed from his rotten chest where the poison had eaten through scale and flesh, already working on his heart. The sound and smell of sizzling flesh was disgusting, and she almost threw up at the smell. The poison had spread throughout his body so much that his left arm was bending out of shape, the joints in the bones cracking as the sinews melted away. "You're going to be fine." Cynder said. "I'm too late, but you're going to be fine. You're going to be safe with the ancestors."

"I know. Thanks for… everything you've… done for me." Tyrax croaked between breaths that he had to fight for, spitting up blood as he spoke. Even on the verge of death, he wore a small smile on his face. "How ironic… that I would die by the very element… you refused to use on me. Now I know… what _all_ your elements are like. It hurts. I'm glad… you didn't use this… on me earlier."

The light faded from his eyes, and Tyrax's head slumped sideways, and he went still. Cynder felt tears prick her eyes. "Damn it, Tyrax! Even in death you try to make _some_ sort of a joke!" she sobbed. "Damn you, you _fool_!"

Pain suddenly flared through Cynder's right flank as a shadowclaw raked its claws down her side. She let out a deafening scream as she turned to it, attacking it ferociously, sending black blood flying everywhere as she clawed, cut and sliced it relentlessly, and before long, the shadowclaw's entire body was sticky with its own blood. It fought back, letting out howls of determination and of pain. Tears streamed from Cynder's eyes as she flashed her claws across every bit of flesh she could find on the shadowclaw's body. "You leave Tyrax alone!" she wailed, mourning hard for Tyrax.

Finally, she flashed her tailblade across the shadowclaw's neck, cutting its head clean off its neck and showering Cynder in black gore. She stood, glaring daggers at the corpse and breathing heavily through gritted teeth, low, furious growls emanating from her throat. Cynder was aware of Ibrim behind her, but he was smart not to get close to her while he was in her rage. She slowly began to calm down, and that was when Ibrim began to ask if she was alright. She snapped back at him to shut up, before she took a deep breath, recomposed herself, and finally answered the question, her voice still filled with somewhat suppressed fury. "Yeah, I think I'm fine." she mumbled.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

Cynder recognised that voice. "On second thought, I think I'm not." she spat, turning around to see Spyro stalking up behind Ibrim.

She tried to call out to Ibrim, but Spyro was quicker. He raised his left forepaw and thrust it into the back of Ibrim's skull. The force behind the attack shattered the skull with a snap, followed by a sickening wet squelch as Spyro penetrated Ibrim's brain. Ibrim let out a shrill scream, before it faded and turned into a sickening wheeze. Ibrim finally went silent, and collapsed to the ground dead as Spyro yanked his bloody paw free, sending entrails spilling out of Ibrim's head and onto the ground.

Cynder cursed, lunging at Spyro, who raised his bloody paw and hit her sideways. She landed on the ground with such force that she was winded. She clutched her chest, groaning in pain. She coughed twice, spitting up phlegm the second time, before she stood and lunged at Spyro again. Spyro once more knocked her to the ground effortlessly, grabbing her by the neck in mid-air and throwing her to the ground at his feet.

Before Cynder could stand once more, Spyro began clawing at her. She tried to stand but every time she did so, Spyro would slug her in the face, causing her to fall back to the ground, before he'd continue to claw at her. After a few minutes, she was a bloody mess, her left eyelids swelling up over her eye and her left eyebrow spilling blood all over them, her shoulders streaming so much blood that it spilled out over the entirety of her arms. Blood filled her mouth from a tooth that had been smashed further up her gums, and her flanks were bloody and broken as well. She coughed, spitting up the blood that was in her mouth.

Spyro then leaned over her and grabbed her right wing, digging his claw-tips into the wing membranes, creating large, bloody holes in them, before he yanked the wing forcefully out of position, forcing a yowl from Cynder's throat. Spyro then picked her up by her throat and threw her sideways, causing her to land forcefully on her side, winding her again as more pain spread through her chest, before more pain suddenly flared up in her back leg. Damn it, it was broken; she must have landed on it funny. Spyro walked up towards her, and her heart froze when she realised how much blood was on him. All of her blood made his paws dark red, the thick coat of blood glistening in the sunlight, but there was plenty of extra blood splattered all over him that was not her own. There was a fair bit of it on his chest and shoulders, but most of it covered his lips and muzzle. He parted his red lips in a smile, showing off his teeth, which were also red with blood.

Cynder felt angry at Spyro. More than angry. Furious.

No. More than _that_. She didn't know what word described more than furious, but that was exactly how she felt. She felt her rage bubbling up inside her with such force that she couldn't contain it, and it burst out of her in a savage roar. "WHY?! WHY HAVE YOU BECOME THIS MONSTER, SPYRO?!" she roared.

"Come on, Cynder? Trying to make me _doubt_ myself? _Pitiful_." Spyro scoffed.

"I DON'T CARE! TELL ME NOW! WHY DID YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME?! WHAT JUSTIFICATION DO YOU HAVE FOR _ALL_ OF THIS?!"

"Are you so _blind_ , Cynder? Have you not noticed it yourself? Our kind is so… self-centred. They think they're _so_ good, _so_ much higher than anyone else, including some of our _own_. I saw it in Warfang. Dragons treating moles and felines like slaves, and ignoring young orphans and dragons with disorders as if they belonged in the dirt. Treating the dragoness I _loved_ … like a cancer that us as dragonkind needs to be rid of immediately to save us from dying! Treating _me_ like I was a _fake_ , and that I didn't _truly_ save the world, because how can a fifteen-year-old save the world but they can't write their own name?! What type of saviour of the world needs to be taught how to read and write when it should have been taught at the age of five?! They ridiculed _me_ , and called me a _fraud_! Nobody believed me, and all thought that _Ignitus_ killed Malefor and saved the world, and that I _stole_ his glory, calling me _insensitive_ because Ignitus didn't come back with us!

"The dragon race needs some serious fixing, and the only way to do that is to start killing it off! I need to eradicate everyone who ever thought themselves better than anybody else, and maybe fear and throwing _them_ into slave work is the way to do it! So _they_ know what it feels like to be low and thought nothing of! And the dragon race must be kept in line as well, or otherwise it'll happen _again_! _No one else_ has tried to step up to the role of fixing this problem, so _I_ should be the _ancestor-damned_ first! Giving into my dark side was just something that was inevitable for me to get to this point! Something that I _had_ to do!

"And now I'm helping the dragon race become equal once more. It's just a shame that you've gone among the dragons who think high of themselves. You think yourself higher than me. We vowed, during our soulmate ceremony, that in our state of mateship, we would be equals. You _broke_ that vow!"

"You _dare_ to speak of vows, Spyro?!" Cynder scowled. " _You_ broke that vow first by thinking you could become a god, to control the dragon race!"

"I don't _want_ to become a god! All I want is equality, and I have to do this to bring it upon the dragon race! This has gone on for too long and nothing has been done about it! It's so bad that drastic measures have to be taken!"

"You could have at least talked to me about it, Spyro! We could have done this together, without having to go down the dark path! You just up and left me, and broke _another_ vow we made, that we would _never_ forsake each other!"

"I didn't forsake you. I _tried_ to get you to come with me!"

"I _can't_ follow you down that path! You _know_ that! The biggest vow I ever made was the night you saved me, back when we were twelve, that I would _never_ return to the darkness. _Ever_. If I was given the freedom to break all my vows, that would be the one that I would _never_ break. The darkness sickens me, and I _never_ want to return!"

"What a pity. It actually feels _good_."

"SHUT UP!" Cynder screamed, not wanting to hear Spyro talk about darkness and evil in such a positive way. "IF YOU WANTED EQUALITY, WE COULD HAVE TALKED TO THE GUARDIANS ABOUT IT, AND DONE IT TOGETHER, BRINGING _PEACE_ TO THE REALM INSTEAD OF WAR!"

"I _AM_ BRINGING PEACE!" Spyro roared.

"YOU CALL _THIS_ PEACE?!" Cynder exclaimed, motioning with her head to the corpses of Tyrax and Ibrim. "THIS IS _WAR_! _MURDER_!"

"TO GET PEACE, THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH! IT WAS INEVITABLE, AND IT WILL CONTINUE UNTIL WE GET PEACE! SHOULD THE PEACE BE BROKEN, I WILL PERSONALLY KILL WHOEVER BREAKS IT!"

"Then kill yourself." Cynder growled, her throat tired from screaming. "Your violent acts were what caused the peace to be broken."

"It's a matter of perspective." Spyro replied darkly. "You won't believe how many children I've saved from abusive parents. You can't count how many dragonesses I've saved from being molested."

"And how did you save them? By killing the ones hurting them? Spyro, you've _scarred_ them!"

"Must everything be about killing? I know what was in the letter that was sent to you. You _know_ we're after the children here. We're taking them to Dark Peak to nurse them, so they don't have to deal with abuse and bullying."

"Nurse them? Nurse them in your ways, you mean! Nurse them in the ways of blood and violence and murder, just like _I_ was nursed! You'll get _them_ to do all the killing _for_ you! You're no better than Malefor!"

"I won't nurse them like that. I will treat them well, but at the same time, they will also be aiding me. We will rise in a revolution to save the world, where all the oppressed children will come to help free the world of its oppression and inequality!"

"You're using children in your sick little game. You _are_ just like Malefor." Cynder said in a small voice as her worst fears came true. She had hoped Spyro wouldn't ever go as far as to use _children_ in this sick game of murder he'd begun. And it wasn't just one, like her. It was hundreds, possibly _thousands_. A thought entered her head that then made her sick. "What about Forzen? He's not involved in this too, is he?"

Spyro's eyes widened and he seemed to flinch at the mention of Forzen potentially being involved in this process too. He stammered, before swallowing and looking away from Cynder. Cynder swore she saw a lone tear build in his left eye, but he blinked quickly and looked back at Cynder with a low snarl. Forzen was obviously still a sensitive topic to him, but she wondered why. Was… Was _Forzen_ his weak spot?

"He's perfectly fine. I'm taking good care of him." Spyro scoffed quickly, seemingly trying to avoid the topic as he then continued on a completely different train of thought. "You're lucky I haven't lost my hope in the dragon race completely, or otherwise everyone will be treated a lot worse, and I would've eradicated the _whole_ dragon race. I've already lost all my hope in _you_ , however, you sorry excuse for a dragon. It's time I _end_ this!"

With that, Spyro grabbed Cynder and took off into the skies. She cried out, thrashing about and clawing at Spyro, but he held on firm as he ascended high into the sky. She felt the wind pelting against her body, which stung profusely as the cold wind slammed down on her open and bloody wounds, even hitting her broken wing with so much force that it bent downwards, causing her to cry out in pain. Soon, Urgussen was nothing but a few small miniscule buildings, and the trees in the forests surrounding it small green dots. Black dots representing venomfangs started to swarm out of Urgussen towards the direction of Dark Peak, and she could faintly hear the sound of young, youthful wailing as children were carried away.

Suddenly, she began to feel weak and dizzy, and had the urge to vomit. She retched, and swallowed what she had almost brought up, and she tried to let out a plea for Spyro to stop, but she was too weak to do even that. Suddenly, she realised what Spyro was doing. He was sucking out all of her energy from her elemental spark, which numbed her mind and made her woozy. Her vision went blurry, all the colours mixing together into one hazy mess. Her brain ceased to register the pain that overcame her body, and it eventually got to the point where she couldn't even feel the blood spilling down her body to know how bad the wounds were.

Then, Spyro let go of her – no, _threw_ her – and she fell down. Down, down, down she went, plummeting to her death. She was too weak to try and fight it, to get back in the air again. Then she realised what his plan was as she realised she couldn't get back in the air. Her wing was broken and bloodied, rendering it useless, and she was out of mana, so she couldn't use her wind element to help her fly.

Spyro really wanted her dead. Her 'three chances' to join him had been used up, and she was nothing to Spyro. Just as Spyro was nothing to her. She was intent on his death, to resume the peace that she had fought so hard to achieve; the peace that Spyro had turned his back on. The peace they had that Spyro didn't believe in, before he went to start a war to achieve his _own_ definition of peace.

But she would never be able to enact her revenge on Spyro, feeling her plummet get faster and faster.

Her vision went black.

* * *

 **Okay, big RIP… things are taking ages to work through, but this chapter's been ready for a while. I wanted to post this once the next few chapters were essentially ready but because it's been another two months I don't want to leave you guys hanging for too long so here's Chapter 27. Hope you all liked it!**

 **Hopefully the next chapter doesn't take as long, but knowing my luck, it probably will. Also I finally posted a new chapter of _Bitten_ (after five months _oof_ ) a few days ago, so I'm really happy about that.**

 **…**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **Yeah, thanks for your ongoing support and reviews, it really does mean a lot, especially when I don't get to update this story as much as I really want to. I'm hoping the next chapter doesn't take too long, so sorry for the wait.**

 **As for the _Legend of Korra_ thing, I've never seen it, so no, Spyro's lava element is not inspired by it at all. It's basically just a mutation of the fire element as Freeze said in the last chapter, like most of the sinister elements are mutations of others. Also, the sinister dragons didn't actually cause any of this darkness/sadism in Spyro. The sinister dragons just so happened to be a sadistic species, but they did have the ability to turn their back on sadism and actually care about other dragons. There is something at play though in Spyro's darkness and sadism; not going to say what it is yet.**

 **…**

 **Thank you all for your support, especially the new reviewers who have just started reading the story (Wiener Blut, even though I can't read German lol, and AquillaPrime). All the reviews have been really helpful and really special, and I do enjoy reading your thoughts on the story. Please leave a review on this chapter if you haven't already, because it really does help. I hope this chapter was good enough for you, and I guess I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	29. Chapter 28: Holding On

Spyro watched as Cynder fell. His breath was heavy and ragged as he huffed through gritted teeth, but as he watched the body of the one he had once loved relentlessly fall down towards her death, he felt the muscles in his face soften and relax, before a grimace pulled at his lips. He looked away, blinking back a tear. Hell, that was hard to do. Shedding that much blood from her was hard as well. He'd never seen her that bloody before, and to know that _he'd_ done that hurt him a lot. That _he'd_ done that to _her_.

But she had thrown herself among _them_. Them, who ridicule others.

He'd done what he had to.

And now he could go on about it without having to worry about such a strong, formidable opponent like Cynder. His vision would come to him one day, and it will be so much easier without… without _her_ being in his way.

She didn't have a name anymore. She was dead.

She meant nothing to him.

Spyro blinked back another tear, before he turned around and looked down at Urgussen. Venomfangs and shadowclaws were beginning to retreat from Urgussen, each of them holding screaming, howling hatchlings, each of their young, high-pitched, grating howls carrying in the air and making their way to Spyro's ears. He could almost feel their pain and fear from their shrill screams. He blinked and shook his head, forcing the thoughts away. It was time to head back to Dark Peak, so Spyro took a deep breath, before flying back to his army.

But had Spyro continued to look below him for a little longer, he would have seen a red draconic form leap out of the forest below to catch Cynder, saving her from her demise.

* * *

It was a calm, peaceful day and the birds were singing cheerfully, the sun's rays filtering through the leaves of the thick heavy trees, lighting up the rainforest with a soft, serene, warm light that made everything seem even more peaceful, almost perfectly peaceful, as if evil and violence didn't exist. A fire dragon in his mid-fifties walked through the thick rainforest on the outskirts of Urgussen, paws moving lightly and graciously as he took in his surroundings while he looked around for some good firewood. He'd run out just yesterday and needed to get some more, so he was in search for a decent sized tree to cut some branches off. He wouldn't cut down a _whole_ tree; he loved nature, and he knew certain animals like birds and squirrels needed the trees, so he wasn't going to do any deforestation, even if it was only one tree. He wasn't cruel. He would only take what he _needed_. This was the same with hunting; he didn't want to kill a creature and end up disposing half of its carcass. There were some parts that he didn't eat, like the head and neck and any other parts of the body which would be fairly unsavoury to be eating, but disposed of the carcass where he knew other predators willing to finish it off would be waiting.

Finding firewood was a task he honestly didn't like, but he had to do it. It was cold in the cave he called home. Sure, he could create fire, being a fire dragon, but he needed something to burn so he could make a fire. Rocks don't exactly burn, and foliage is too short-lived; it shrivels up and burns out into a pile of black ash.

He eventually found a massive tree with some fairly thick branches, and he smiled when he saw it. He knew this would be a great amount of wood for a small fire. He walked towards the tree and looked up at the branches, before spreading his wings and lifting himself up into the sky, hovering above the ground before he used his long, bronze tailblade like a saw to cut off the large branch. He eventually cut cleanly through it, and the wood gave a loud snap before the branch fell to the ground with a thud, the leaves at the end of the branch rustling on impact. He saw two more branches, slightly thinner than the first, that would be good enough, so he cut those down too.

Once he was happy with the firewood he'd gotten, he grabbed the three large branches in his maw and began to haul the wood along the ground back towards his home. These huge bits of firewood would likely fuel a fire every night for about a month or two, so he was happy with the amount he had gotten. He'd have to remember that tree for future firewood expeditions; it was the biggest one he'd seen yet, and he'd been living out here in the rainforests just outside of Urgussen for a long time. So long in fact, that he couldn't remember the exact number of years he'd been out here for. But he'd lived in Urgussen for a while, and still returned there to get some items and to socialise on the occasion.

As he walked back home, the peaceful chirping of birds and calling of other animals began to rise into frantic, panicked screams, squeals and hoots. Confused, the fire dragon looked up and saw through the dense foliage above him a small yet heavy shadow in the sky, growing larger and larger. He squinted and could eventually pick out the shape of limbs and wings.

Dear ancestors, this was a dragon!

He dropped the firewood he was carrying and leapt up into the air, arms outstretched wide to catch the dragon as it fell. As he grabbed a hold of the dragon, he turned himself around, preparing to take the brunt of the force to protect the falling dragon, spreading his wings out to catch the air in an attempt to slow their momentum. They fell through thin leafy cover and landed on the ground with a thud. Pain flared through his back, but luckily nothing was broken. He sighed, before he wondered why the dragon had been falling. It had most likely been flying and had accidentally lost balance and fallen out of the sky or had gone unconscious and fallen out of the sky.

But suddenly he knew it was not just mere unconsciousness or clumsiness that had caused this dragon to fall from the sky as he felt something wet spilling over him. When he took a closer look, it was blood. Blood covered the whole body of the dragon he was holding, and at closer inspection of the large, slender form, it was a dragoness. He gently pushed the dragoness off him and stood up, gasping at the sight of her wounds. The lacerations in her body were deep and spilled blood everywhere, making her body look entirely red. The fire dragon wiped some blood away from the dragoness' scales and saw what colour they really were. A very dark purple, close to black.

He gasped as he recognised who this was just by her scale colour. This was Cynder. He… He'd… He'd heard… _stories_ of Cynder and what had happened to her… and he felt bad for her, sorry that she had to go through all she did as a child. But why was she so beaten up? What had happened to her?

He reached out with his magic, as he was a mage and could utilise powers other than fire. He hovered his crimson paw over her bloody, broken form, moving it around her body to try and feel for any internal injuries, and he let out a gasp. He felt Cynder's spirit, which was beginning to get a bit restless, almost as if it was preparing to depart. He felt something else inside her as well.

Her essence core. It was empty. And not just her mana, but everything else. Her core was dying too.

He needed to do something. Focusing on her instead of the firewood, he shoved his head gently underneath her abdomen, before flicking it up and rolling her onto his back, staining his head, wings and back with her blood, before he sprinted as best as he could towards his cave. Upon entering, he gently placed her down, before he ran off to grab some red gems to try and heal her and keep her spirit inside her body. He held them close to Cynder's bloody body, but nothing happened. No sparkling red magic, no healing wounds. Nothing. He shook the gems about, pressing them firmly against Cynder's side, forcing a bit more blood out of her, but still, nothing happened.

He felt her spirit. It was still inside of her, but it continued to get weaker, and weaker. She was going to die.

He bowed his head and prayed to the ancestors, praying that they would keep Cynder alive. Afterwards he sprinted off and grabbed some blue spirit gems to revive her essence core, hoping that doing so would help keep her spirit strong. The blue gem flashed but there was no sign of Cynder absorbing the gem. He sighed. Not just her mana was gone, but so was the ancestrite, the part of the essence core that allows spiritual connection to the ancestors and the ancestral gems. Cynder's core was dying with no ancestrite, and without it, he couldn't use a spirit gem on her properly. If a core is only a _little_ deprived of ancestrite, the dragon can still use a spirit gem, but with Cynder's essence core being almost completely barren of ancestrite, it would be incredibly difficult to get a reaction; even more so with her spirit being so extremely weak.

He felt his heart begin to race as panic overtook him. He took a deep breath and called on his magic to try and infuse a bit of power into her spirit and into her essence core to keep them inside her body. He then began to pray to the ancestors, praying that they would keep Cynder's spirit alive and well, as well as her core. He felt a quiet whisper from the ancestors, saying that it would be alright.

* * *

Three days passed, and Cynder was still unconscious. The fire dragon had made her a bed in some soft foliage he'd found, and made lots of make-shift bandages out of the same silky foliage that he wrapped her bloody body in. Some of her wounds still oozed with blood, turning the green leaves dark with red blood. So many times over the past few days, he had tried to give Cynder a spirit gem, even to the point where he'd actually pierce a hole in her body to feed the gem inside her, which still didn't work too well. He'd even put her leg in a brace to correct it, since red gems didn't seem to be doing much.

The first night of trying to heal her had been sleepless and seemed to drag on forever as he fretted about Cynder's wellbeing, as well as trying to get some spirit gem energy into her, which he had attempted every two or three hours, before he panicked and got very impatient a little after sunrise and moved onto trying to empower her every twenty to thirty minutes, before he'd eventually fallen asleep due to overworking himself. He'd taken it easier since then, but he still worried for her.

He could still feel her spirit and essence core in there, only just hanging onto the world of the living, but he didn't think Cynder could hold on for much longer. He felt like her spirit was staying because it could feel the spirit gem's power and lusted for it, but her core was not cooperating and would not give in to the alluring spell of the spirit gem.

But it was a new day, and he told himself he would keep trying to revive Cynder no matter what. He would help guide her essence core to accepting the spirit gem's power, even if it took everything out of him.

So, it was time to try and heal her once more. He grabbed one small blue spirit gem and sat down next to Cynder. He raised a claw and carefully dug it into a clean, unbandaged spot on her dark purple flank, causing small beads of blood to ooze out of the wound. He quickly shoved the blue spirit gem into the whole, praying to the ancestors that something would happen this time.

For a while, nothing happened, but he then jumped as a bright blue spark flashed between Cynder's flank and the spirit gem. He quickly pulled it out, wondering what had happened, but gasped when a small trail of blue mist came out with the spirit gem. He could even see that the gem was only _slightly_ duller, like some of the energy from the spirit gem had been absorbed.

He smiled with glee. She had absorbed a spirit gem! Even if it was only a little bit, but she had absorbed some of the spirit gem's energy! She was actually recovering! It was a _miracle_!

 _Praise the ancestors!_ he thought.

He put the spirit gem beside him and sighed, before raising his paws and putting pressure on the small wound he had put on her to stop the bleeding; red healing gems wouldn't work because she still needed more ancestrite to be able to accept the energy inside it, and she was lucky she was only just strong enough to accept the power of the spirit gems that would help revive her essence core. He would have tried to get more spirit gem energy into her, but he had gone three days with pretty much no success, so he knew that a small flicker of energy was probably all he was going to get this morning. He would try again later this afternoon, maybe closer to the evening, but he didn't expect to get anything more than another spark of energy. Cynder's core was _incredibly_ weak, but it was obvious her spirit had been recuperating beforehand. Even though she was still weak, her heart was starting to beat again, and she was now beginning to breathe, if only faintly, hoarsely, and extremely slowly. It seemed that her body was focusing on repairing her spirit before her essence core, _then_ her wounds would most likely be next. He didn't know when Cynder was going to wake up, but he hoped it was soon.

But he had progress!

He was going to feed her core a little more spirit gem energy each day to try and fill her core up with ancestrite once more. He sighed with content, silently thanking the ancestors once more, before he turned and put the blue spirit gem away with the rest of his stash of gems in his cave. To be honest, he had been farming gem clusters for several years. He'd taught himself how to grow and harvest the gems, especially without using them, but he'd learned a lot about it and was doing well with the farming, as he had one cluster of spirit gems, four clusters of healing gems, and three clusters of mana gems.

He turned and left the room with a smile. He made his way to the entrance of his cave, looking up at the sun rays that filtered through the heavy foliage of the dense rainforest he lived in. It was beautiful here, and he was glad this was his home. Today was good as well because there wasn't really much he needed to do. He could really just stay home, relax, and probably have a small nap today; he was still incredibly tired from the sleepless night three days ago. He didn't need to go hunting due to the fact he already had a deer left over from yesterday afternoon, two legs and a flank remaining. His stomach grumbled after thinking about food, but he just stood and continued to stare at the sun.

He loved this peaceful life of his. It couldn't get any better than it was.

He didn't want it to change. But when Cynder would wake up, his life would change shortly after.

* * *

 **Heck, I _very_ much apologise for being so inactive. I've had a busy year this year with school and many other projects, and my beta-reader's had life happen; I won't go into anything coz that's not for me to give. We have been getting stuff done over the past four or so months though, so there are actually three complete chapters, including this one. I'm just waiting feedback on Chapter 31 before I send off Chapter 32. I wanted to have a few chapters finished so that if there's a massive inactive gap like this I have a chapter finished. Hope this makes sense to all you guys lol. Also I've been reorganising this story too; I recently removed a character who's meant to appear later in the story, and I also needed to add a scene, so I'm still figuring out where that fits in.**

 **I've also been doing a heap of other stuff fanfiction-wise too. I've been helping out a writer by the name of MysticOTDH on his story Visions of Darkness which is coming along amazingly by the way. He is a super talented writer so I highly recommend you check it out if you haven't already. Also I've been planning another _Spyro_ story (I don't know why I do this, I have so many ideas lol).**

 **…**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **So, we get a little glimpse of Cynder's saviour here. What do you think so far? Also, it was not my intention to make Spyro seemingly like Thanos. And funny thing is, you're not the only one to make that parallel lol.**

 **AquillaPrime:** **Hey man, glad you're enjoying the story. Glad to hear your thoughts on it.**

 **RyChu0130:** **Yeah, that was a dodgy cliffhanger to leave you all hanging off for such a long time lol. Sorry about that, but the reason behind that was discussed above. Glad the cliffhanger works though, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story.**

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:** **Hot cake story has been updated. Glad you've been liking the story man.**

 **…**

 **And heck, I have no idea when the next chapter will be, but hopefully it is soon. I'm hoping my beta-reader gets back to me on Chapter 31 so I can post Chapter 29, but I don't know how long that'll be. I really need to search for another one lol. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, see you next time!**


	30. Chapter 29: Muras

Cynder let out a low, croaky moan as she awoke, pain flaring up through her body once more as she returned from her unconscious state. She blinked furiously, her vision clearing up. She looked around her surroundings and saw that she was in a dimly lit cave. She was quite deep into it as well; the entrance to the cave was not visible, surrounding her completely with rock and moss. She lay on her side in a makeshift nest of silky grass and soft vegetation. A well-made fire sat burning a few metres away, keeping her warm within the dark cave and lighting up the cave walls around her with an eerie orange light. She sighed, rolling over onto her stomach and staring into the flames, losing herself in the beauty of the flickering fire. The faint sound of crickets chirping reached her ears; it was night outside.

A little bit of time passed before she started to question why she was here. Last she remembered, she was… falling. She had been knocked out, and she didn't know how much time had passed since then. Where was she? Who brought her here? How had she survived the fall? She should have _died_.

She looked down over herself and saw that her bloody wounds were wrapped in bandages of soft foliage like what she lay on; some of the bandages were stained with dried blood. Her wounds weren't closed, but they weren't bleeding and looked to be well-treated. She remembered she had been a bloody mess; Spyro had really done a good deal of damage on her. She remembered the terrible feeling of blood gushing down her scales.

But who treated her while she was unconscious? How long had she been unconscious for? Was anyone from Warfang looking for her?

She tried to stand, but her hind leg quivered, pain searing through it. It was still broken. Her head suddenly spun, her chest flared with pain, and her stomach heaved with nausea, threatening to bring up her digestive fluids. She slumped back to her soft nest with a thud, suppressing a groan through her closed mouth, not wanting to open it for fear she would let the repulsive vomit out. She swallowed, wincing as the sour, burning liquid returned back to her stomach, and she shivered in disgust. Her throat burned from swallowing the vomit, and she coughed violently, before letting out a hoarse groan of annoyance. She couldn't get up to return to Warfang. Not like this. But she needed to be back; they _needed_ her. She was their best asset against Spyro's forces. Hopefully she hadn't been gone for too long. Warfang was vulnerable, and she would never forgive herself if Spyro attacked Warfang while she wasn't there to protect it.

Thunder began to rumble ominously from outside the cave. Cynder sighed. The weather was as miserable as she was. It was meaningless to lie here. She needed to be in Warfang where she was needed. She was alone, in an unfamiliar place, and she didn't like it. She didn't know who had saved her or treated her. She didn't like the fact that someone had had their grubby paws on her without her knowing who it was.

A massive thunderclap tore through the air, followed by the faint sound of rain. The storm was very close, and the thunderclaps loud and sudden. She looked to the crackling fire again, thankful that there was at least a heat source here, keeping her warm and cosy. She stared into the dancing flames as they entwined lovingly with one another. She was enthralled by the flames, hypnotised by their delicate movements.

Cynder yawned, exposing a terrifying set of fangs. She was extremely tired, but she didn't know why; she'd literally _just_ woken up. She had been out for a long time and she didn't know how long it had been. She tried to figure out the time of her unconsciousness. It had been a little after midday when they had gotten to Urgussen. It was night now; no light was shining into the cave from outside, and there had been crickets chirping outside before the rain and thunder had come. Cynder didn't know how late into the night it was, but she guessed that at least half a day had passed. Hopefully it was just that and not a full day, let alone more.

She winced as the thought entered her head. She needed to be back home. She couldn't stay out here, lying about and staring into fire, but what could she do? She couldn't even _stand_ without feeling violently nauseous. She was tired, and her chest ached. A _lot_.

Something inside her chest also felt… _empty_.

But she didn't know _what_ that something was.

Cynder shuddered, her mind still grinding at the thought that she would be away from home, from work, from friends, for that long. She had never been away from home or friends for over a few hours, as of recently. She'd been alone for the first twelve years of her life; no friends, and no proper home to call her own. Just Malefor and her victims. Spyro (she winced as the name entered her head) was the first person that actually cared about her, coming in to save her from Malefor. But during the time that she was tethered to Spyro after the Time Crystal was destroyed, she realised that Spyro wasn't just an alliance, but her… friend.

Yeah, _'friend'_. Look what _that_ ended up turning into. He'd been her only friend until she met Pyron, Freeze, Rubblerust and Electrika, but he had still been her biggest friend until they started dating. She couldn't understand how their friendship had blossomed into love now; it seemed almost impossible given the current events. She despised him so much now, that she almost threw up at the thought of how she had confessed her love to him, of how he'd asked her if she meant it a few weeks later. Of their first date. Of their last date before Spyro proposed to her. Of their soulmate ceremony. Of… No, she wouldn't think of that one.

Spyro meant nothing to her now. She wanted nothing to do with him.

Cynder groaned, before yawning again. There wasn't much to do. She was alone. She decided to go to sleep and let her body recover properly overnight before she returned to Warfang. She laid her head down on the soft, silky nest under her, turning it away from the fire so the bright light didn't disturb her from getting sleep. The steady rain and the chirping crickets from outside began to lull her, and the soft crackling of the fire was smooth and relaxing. The thunder had seemed to tame now, and only rumbled subtly in the distance. Her breathing and heartbeat began to slow, and her eyes started to close.

She was almost asleep until loud pawsteps and rustling sounds came from outside, and she groaned petulantly, turning her head towards the sound as a large fire dragon walked in, in his mid-fifties, hauling the carcass of a deer behind him. He let the carcass drop to the ground with a thud, and he turned to Cynder, who seemed to shrink almost half her size in nervousness, despite the strong and defensive look on her face. The fire dragon simply smirked. "You're awake. I didn't know how long it'd take for you to finally stir." he said.

Cynder stammered wordlessly, before pausing to clear her throat, and attempting to speak once again. "Who… who are you? Why am I here? What happened, and can I go home now?" Cynder asked.

"Slow down! One question at a time!" the dragon chuckled, his voice soft and soothing, and very friendly. But somehow… it was also… familiar. _Very_ familiar. But she couldn't pick out where the familiarity came from. "To answer your first question, my name is Muras."

Cynder blinked. "Muras? The word for 'violet' in the dialect of the ancients?" she deadpanned.

"Yes. I was named for my eyes." Muras said with a shrug. "They're the purest violet my parents had ever seen. They thought something was wrong with me at first, but we… we figured one of my ancestors could have been a purple dragon. It's the only explanation for this."

"That's… _odd_. But for you to have even had _colour_ traits inherited, the purple dragon would have had to have been your parents or grandparents; dragons can't inherit traits any further than that; almost everyone knows that. And your grandparents would only date back to about two hundred to a thousand years back, depending on how old they were when your parents were born, and when _you_ were born. It's probably a pigmentation disorder or something, I don't know. I've seen ice dragons with orange or green eyes and a fire dragon with mismatched eyes, one blue and one orange, so it's possible." Cynder murmured with a look of concern for Muras, before she took another look at him.

Her jaw dropped. A bright red fire dragon with _violet eyes_. She looked his body over and saw that his chest was complete with bronze scales. Three bronze crown-like horns adorned his head, and bronze back spines and a long, elegant bronze tailblade were also sported. "I know you!" she exclaimed.

"Uh… y-y-y-you do?" Muras stammered, a weird expression appearing on his face.

"Yeah! I dreamt of you once! I had future sight about a month or so ago, and you were in one of the visions!" Cynder exclaimed, and Muras released the breath he _seemed_ to be holding.

"W-w-well…" Muras stammered with a half-hearted chuckle. "I-I guess, technically, I can say I-I-I know you, too. N-n-not _personally_ , of course, but I know… _of_ you. I heard of… all the _stories_ and everything that happened. You're one brave dragoness, you know that, Cynder? After going through everything you have."

"Yeah, I do. Look, I'm not here for the flattery. I just want answers, and to leave this _junkhole_."

" _Junkhole_?! This is my _home_!"

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, I… I didn't know!"

"It's alright. I know you didn't mean it. As for where we are, we're about a kilometre or so north-west of Urgussen, in probably the densest rainforest in the Dragon Realms. I love it here. It's not perfect, but it's home; has been for years. When I grabbed you as you were falling from the sky, I was actually out grabbing some firewood out in the forest just outside of Urgussen, when I saw you and I caught you. You were literally falling right on top of me. I couldn't save your leg, though. It got broken badly."

Cynder scoffed. "It was already broken beforehand. But it's not _that_ big of a deal anyway. Red gems could have _easily_ fixed that up, no problem."

"That's just _it_! I _tried_ using red gems! But your body _refused_ to accept them!"

Cynder screwed her face up. That was extremely weird. She'd never heard of a dragon who couldn't use red gems, but even if there _were_ such a thing, she'd been using red gems for _years_. Why would they suddenly just… _not work_ on her?

Muras continued to speak. "My father was a mage, and I learned a few things from him, back when the practise was legal of course. I eventually found out that the reason was your essence core. It was weak, almost _empty_. It couldn't take in the red gem's energy. It has to heal, _slowly_. I tried using a few spirit gems and green mana gems to try and speed up the process, but your core only accepted a _very small_ portion of the spirit gem's power; it refused the energy of mana gems. I did as much healing as I could do, but magic can only do so much. I put your leg in a brace when I brought you here to try and set it, and it seemed to only be a minor break as it set after a few days, but it'll still be a little sore and weak."

"Wait, a few _days_?! How long have I been here?!"

"Uh... about eight to nine days."

" _Eight_ to…?!" Cynder shouted, before swearing.

Muras flinched as Cynder swore. "Uh, there's no need for that language. You're fine, Cynder. You'll recover."

"My _recovery_ isn't what worries me! I'm _needed_ in Warfang! Really badly! I can't be here lazing about, you _worm_!"

"Look, Cynder. If I _could_ get your health back to normal, I _would_ , but your essence core isn't _cooperating_! It needs another three or four days!" Muras shouted. "I can see you're eager to get out of here and you might even _feel_ ready, but the fact of the matter is that you're _not_ , and you need to take it slow and calm so you can heal!"

Cynder lowered her head. There was an uncomfortable silence between the two. Muras looked over towards the fire, which was beginning to dwindle, he spat a small fireball at it to keep it going, and the fire burst to life again, flames dancing and entwining beautifully. The only sound between their silence was the crackling of the revived fire and the distant rain from outside, until eventually, Muras broke the silence. "Are you hungry? I have a deer that I just caught, so… if you're hungry you can have some. You'll be stuck here for at least another day, so you should _probably_ eat; you've been unconscious for eight days as well, so you've been running on empty for a while."

"Ugh, why not? I've never been one to turn down a good deer anyway. Give me a flank."

And so, Muras turned to the carcass and tore off one of the deer's flanks, before tossing it in front of Cynder. She murmured her thanks and took a bite. Muras ripped off a leg, sitting down to take a few bites, before he then stood and started speaking. "Alright, I should probably try and get some more spirit gem energy into you; I managed to get a little bit more in the second time I gave it a go this morning. I'm going to need you to cooperate and stay still." Muras instructed.

Cynder hesitated. She still didn't trust Muras. She didn't want his paws all over her unless she knew he could be entrusted with her health. Muras seemed to guess the reason behind Cynder's discomfort. "Cynder, it'll be alright. I know what I'm doing. I did this yesterday and this morning and got some progress. I even used to help Father with healing using my magic powers, seeing as that was something he taught me." he explained softly.

She sighed, finally giving in, but she wasn't sure if she would regret it. "Yeah, sure, whatever." Cynder groaned, rolling her eyes as she took another bite of her deer flank.

Muras left for a bit to grab some spirit gems, before returning with a basket filled with four medium-sized blue crystals. He placed it on the ground beside her, and she turned to look at the basket, chewing on her food. It had been a long time since she had seen the glowing blue crystals. The last time was probably just before the face-off with Malefor eight years ago. She was surprised they still existed. She thought they'd all been destroyed when the world started to fall apart, or had become so rare that no one had seen one. Obviously, there were still some growing nearby.

The fire dragon sat down next to her. "I'm going to need to cut into you a little bit to get the gem inside your body so your core can accept it easier. It's still fairly weak and needs a bit of help." he warned. Cynder nodded and told him to hurry up and do what he needed to do. Slowly and carefully, he began to work his claw into her right flank, before peeling open a small hole in her side that bled profusely. Cynder winced in pain, focusing on the up-and-down motion of her jaws chewing her food to distract her from the pain.

Then Muras grabbed one of the spirit gems and fed it gently into the wound, whispering indistinctly. He held it quite a fair way in the wound, shoving some of his claw in as he tried to hold the gem in place. Cynder's blood seeped out onto Muras' claws, and he sighed. He raised his free forepaw and held it out in front of him, waving it over the wound and the gem, still murmuring under his breath. Cynder looked to Muras and saw that the sclerae of his eyes began to glow a mysterious lilac colour, and particles of the same lilac colour flickered about his claws.

Cynder suddenly felt an odd sensation inside her. Like air filling her lungs to full capacity. Like life entering her spirit. She shuddered as she felt the warm power flow through her body, and she felt something swelling up inside of her. She didn't know what it was, but suddenly, she felt energised. She looked to Muras with a look of shock on her face, and he withdrew the gem. Bits of black crystal could be seen through the blood that had spilled on top of the gem. "It worked. It took _all_ the energy from a gem this time. That should be enough for now. Feel any better?" Muras asked.

"Yeah. A bit, thank you." Cynder said, feeling sorry she doubted him. It had worked well.

And with that, Muras turned and grabbed a red gem from the basket, holding it against Cynder's wound, hoping that her core had enough energy to accept the red gem's healing forces. It did, as sparkling red energy flowed into her body, and her wound closed, before healing completely. Muras wiped the blood off her flank and smiled with satisfaction. "Your core is getting stronger." Muras said. "It's on its way to full recovery, and it's doing well. To be honest, it's a huge miracle."

"Thank you." Cynder said, before adding, "I've been a bit confused after something you said, and I've got a few questions. You said my essence core wouldn't accept the power of a red gem. Why is that?"

"Well… it's a bit hard to explain, but us dragons… kind of have _two_ spirits in a way. Our living spirit, which is the sense of spirit you're used to, and our elemental spirit, which we call our essence core, or core for short. I'm sure you've heard of that before." Muras explained.

"Yes, I have. But I've never exactly known what the essence core does. I know what it is, but only the real basics. We never learned too much of it at school. Really all I know is that it's how we use our elements and it stores the mana inside it."

"Well you are right, Cynder. Our core is the essence of _everything_ magical inside us, like our elements, and our connection to the gems that allow them to do their work on us. And when we use our elements, we use what is called mana, like you said. The majority of our core is made up of mana, and the rest is made of another particle which we call ancestrite, which is the direct connection to the gems, and even more so, the spiritual connection to the ancestors. It's not that concerning when we run out of mana as we just can't use our elemental breaths. That what the green gems are for; inserting extra mana into our bodies. The mana can regenerate on its own though, but this happens at a very slow rate.

"The ancestrite, however, is _much_ more vulnerable, and we need to be careful with it. When I found you, your essence core was running _extremely_ low on ancestrite, I'm not sure how. Spirit gems are used to repair ancestrite if the core is wounded, but in the shockingly weak state your core was in, it couldn't even accept the repairing work of the spirit gems; it was a miracle that your core eventually gave into the spirit gem's power. I fear you could have lost all of your ancestrite if I wasn't there to help you."

"And what happens then?" Cynder asked.

Muras sighed. "Well, you've experienced what happens when you're terribly low on ancestrite. You get woozy, violently sick, and incredibly weak. Complete loss of ancestrite won't kill you; you will heal afterwards. But if you lose all your ancestrite, your essence core dies _completely_ , and your element and access to the ancestors will be blocked forever, and you will go brown and nullen. As a null, you'll recover, but you'll have to live without elements and the ability to link with the ancestors and to use spirit and mana gems; healing gems will still work on you. You will go to be with the ancestors if you die, but here in the living realm, you will have no link to them."

"So if you hadn't come to my aid, I'd probably be a _null_ right now? An _elementless_ dragon?"

"If you hadn't died first, but yes. You're lucky I found you. You have a very fragile core."

"What? Why? And how do you know?"

"A wind dragoness like you is not built to bear four elements. You have a lot of mana and ancestrite capacity in your core, but it is extremely volatile because it is trying to control three extra elements than it should be."

"Oh. So _that's_ what those training sessions were for. Malefor and Gaul made me train day in, day out, back when I was about one, I think, maybe a little younger, to control my elements. Apparently, they said my body was extremely volatile when they inserted the dark elements into my system, and at first, I didn't know why. They said to take it slowly and carefully, but I went against their words and used a full-force siren scream one day, and according to Gaul, I almost died because the extent of internal damage was too bad for a one-year-old youngling's body to handle; it affected my physical form as _well_ as my essence core by the sounds of it."

"Then that's why your core is fragile; it's trying to handle too much, and _has_ been since too young an age." Muras muttered. "No offense, but your core is an accident _waiting_ to happen. It's fragile, and even after all your training and care, it's still quite delicate. And you were _very_ close to losing it _all_ , even your birth element."

Cynder mumbled in agreement, pausing to take another bite of her flank. Muras turned and put the basket of gems against the wall of the cave, before grabbing the leg he had started eating and sitting next to Cynder, taking another bite as he began to finish his food. "Do you have any more questions?" Muras asked. "I'm quite happy to answer them for you. It's the least I could do."

"I do have more questions, actually. I hope you don't mind me asking them; there's a fair few things I want to ask."

"Not at all. Ask away."

"That… that power you used when you put the spirit gem into me to… to repair my… ancestrite… what was that?"

"That was phantasm. It's an element of ancient times, until an electric dragon mage learned how to replicate it, back in the early years of sorcery when replicating elements was a big thing among them. His name was Lygryth, and he was very big on rituals and magic. He came across the phantasm element by accident. His childhood friend was a phantasmal dragon, as a matter of fact, so he knew phantasm when he saw it. He taught it to some of the other mages, and it became common practice among the mages. As a matter of fact, a lot of the abilities us mages have used to be elements that were accidentally stumbled upon and mastered. But when the mages learned it, it became altered, and the sorcerers' version of phantasm has a few different limits and abilities than the natural element. And phantasm, along with about three other elements, were the only ones able to be replicated after a million years after the mages came into existence. Many elements had been attempted to be replicated, but failed, and a few mages even took in some dragons as slaves to help them, but with no prevail. And the only elements that could be replicated were paranormal ones that were linked to more supernatural beings and forces, like phantasm. Physical elements like fire and earth, for example, could not be replicated.

"The practise of being a mage later died out, and when I was around, there were only four known mages in the _whole_ world. Five if you include me. Shortly after I learned the practise, it became illegal."

"And what is phantasm?" Cynder asked.

"I was just about to get to that." Muras said with a chuckle. "It's an element… or paranormal ability practiced by mages and sorcerers, and the phantasmal dragons, of course, that allows the user close connection and communication to spirits and phantasmal energy around them. Most of them were spirit-seers and prophets, and could manipulate phantasmal energy, such as that of the ancestral gems. I used phantasm to help guide the phantasmal energy of the spirit gem towards your core. I could even talk to your core, and hear it pleading for help. Your spirit pleaded to accept the spirit gem I offered, but it took a while for your core to actually agree and accept the gem's energy. It's weird, I know, especially when you're so focused on the physical aspects of this world. You have been all your life, haven't you?"

"Yes. I've had the ancestors visit me and send me dreams and visions before, but this… phantasmal connection… that's unlike anything I've heard of."

"It's something that isn't practiced much these days."

"Yeah, you said that. You also said your father was a mage. What was he like?"

"He was amazing. He was the kindest, most loving father ever. Even my friends were jealous of me. But he was powerful, too. He was a strong fire dragon, and rivalled the guardian in skill."

"Your father knew Ignitus?"

"Uh… uh, yeah. Yeah, he did. They were… close friends and both undertook the guardian course. He, uh… He didn't win, of _course_ , but I will always be proud of him. It was after the guardian course that he got into sorcery, and he was one of the most skilled mages to ever exist. He… He taught me all I know."

"He sounds like a good father. Is he still alive?"

"No. He was beheaded in public execution. He did some pretty… _unsavoury_ things… in his later years that eventually caused him to be executed. Mother committed suicide about a day or two after. She couldn't handle the grief of Father's death and the crimes he had committed."

Cynder nodded. She wanted to ask what Muras' father did, but she didn't want to pry. This was something personal to him, and Cynder didn't want to upset him, especially when he was still in the process of treating her, and he could turn her back on her at any time.

"Do you have any more questions?" Muras asked, his voice cutting through her thoughts.

"Uh… no." Cynder said. "I'm kind of tired. I might go to…" She paused to yawn. "…go to sleep now."

"Good idea. I might too. I'll be down the far corner if you need me." he said, turning and leaving.

Cynder noticed with surprise as she looked around, noticing that there were actually corners and other rooms trailing off the main cave. They looked paw-made. "Did you make those?" Cynder called.

"Yeah! A friend and I made this place! He's an earth dragon that still lives in Urgussen. Pretty skilled." Muras replied. "This has been my home ever since! Anyway, good night!"

And Muras was gone, and Cynder was left to her own thoughts. She stared into the fire that was beginning to dwindle. She didn't mind Muras. He was a cool guy. He had a lot of knowledge that could be helpful, and he was also a mage. He could be a big help to her. To Warfang. Well… if he wanted to help, that was. She thought he might, though. He was pretty intent on nursing her to health, and he was doing a great job at it. He was kind and friendly, too. She felt bad for doubting him originally.

Cynder turned her head away from the fire and closed her eyes with a smile. It wasn't long before the soft rain from outside and the crackling of the fire lulled her to sleep.

* * *

 **And I'm back. Posting this because I haven't heard anything from my beta-reader on Chapter 31 yet and I don't want to have another five-month break like last time lol. But anyway, hopefully this was any good guys.**

 **...**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **You're really hating on Spyro aren't you lol? I mean, fair enough due to what he's done but it's pretty funny seeing your reaction to Spyro doing what he did lol. I love seeing what people take out of my stories and how they react, especially since everyone has different interpretations of certain bits of a story.**

 **lord typhlosion:** **Hey man, been a while and I honestly thought you'd stopped reading but oh well. Glad to see you still around and that you're still enjoying it.**

 **AquillaPrime: I was pretty happy with the idea of the essence core too lol, and my beta and I had to talk a bit to get the idea working properly. I was also really happy with the little bit of Spyro at the start of last chapter, as was my beta. And you're right, ultimately Spyro left Cynder to die, no matter how bad he felt about it. He's fallen quite a bit lol. Anyway, thanks for the review and glad you're enjoying it!**

 **DragonLover2468: Yeah, not much is really going well for anybody lol. But Cynder's alive so she'll still be around for a while lol.**

 **MysticOTDH:** **Didn't expect to see your review man due to you not liking this type of stuff haha, but thanks for the words, and keep up the great work with your own stuff lol!**

 **TheDragonPhylakas:** **Eh, we've had some extensive talk on this lol, but long story short for anyone else interested about the points you raised, this was my second proper fanfiction and my first attempt at being dark and gory so of course it wasn't spaced out very well and I could've also written the gory sections in different levels of intensity to make the more intense bits more intense. Pacing too is something I need to work on, so I'm hoping not to throw things out too quickly like I have done previously. Also I didn't exactly have a plan for what to do with Terrador lol; he was always going to die with the other guardians but I didn't think of how I could've implemented his knowledge of the future, specifically Cynder's future, into the story. Anyway, glad you're enjoying it though. Hope this chapter lives up to the expectations from last chapter haha.**

 **...**

 **And that's me done for now, see you soon hopefully. Bye!**


	31. Chapter 30: Busted

"Wake up, Cynder."

She opened her eyes slowly, groaning groggily. Muras stood next to her, shaking her awake. "What? What time is it?" she asked. She felt she had been asleep for ages.

"Just after midday." Muras replied.

"What? I've never slept in for that long before!" Cynder exclaimed groggily, trying to put her head around the fact that she was sleeping for longer than she normally would.

"Your core is still healing, so I'm not surprised you were asleep for a very long time. I gave it another dose of spirit gem energy this morning; it sucked another gem clean of its energy, and took about half of another one, so it's made a miraculous recovery over the past night. But your body needs rest for your core to heal. I'm guessing that's why you slept for so long. You were that in need of rest that you actually slept through me poking another hole in your flank to help with the spirit gem stuff."

Cynder was confused at how her body was reacting to everything, but nodded nonetheless, hiding her confusion. "So how is my core? Will I be able to return to Warfang today?"

"Unfortunately, no. Remember I said last night it'd take about three days to recover fully? But the good news is that you're probably strong enough to stand and walk, and it'd probably do you good to do a bit of exercise after lying about for about nine days. I need to grab a few more herochis flowers, so maybe you could come with me. They're pretty good for aiding healing wounds, due to the healing properties of their sap, and I'm running low on them. I used a fair few on you instead of red gems and that worked somewhat because of the more natural healing they provided when crushed into a paste, and I need some more before I run out, because you never know what might happen." Muras invited.

"Sure, why not? I've been wanting to get out of this place for a while now." Cynder groaned, standing up to her paws and stretching.

Muras chuckled, mumbling under his breath, but Cynder didn't catch what he said. She then realised she had insulted his home again, although not as directly as last night; he was probably muttering about that. She was too lazy to apologise anyway, so she didn't, but Muras didn't seem to care about the fact that she didn't apologise.

He turned and walked off, and Cynder followed. As they walked out of the cave and into the dense rainforest, she took in a deep breath and sighed as the smells of the rainforest reached her nose. Water dripped from the foliage, and every leaf and blade of grass was a dark, saturated green. Bright coloured plants and flowers scattered the rainforest, and the rainforest ambience was filled with the chittering of bugs and small creatures that inhabited the forest. The sun filtered down through the heavy foliage above their heads in thin, beautiful rays that lit up the forest floor in small spotlights. Cynder smiled. She hadn't seen a place of this beauty since…

She blinked, not wanting to remember the moment. She was with _him_ then. He had taken her out to spend the night out in the woods a few kilometres away from Warfang, in a place he had come across a few months earlier when he was doing some fun exploring with Pyron, which was a place that literally defined beauty. That was when they'd… when they'd shared their first kiss at the age of eighteen. It had actually been her eighteenth hatch-day, and while he had also given her a pretty opal necklace (she'd thrown it away after Spyro's betrayal), he had been the one to initiate their first kiss, which she (as much as she hated to admit it now) had gladly returned at the time. It hurt that she remembered vividly the feel of his soft, luscious lips on hers and the irresistible taste of his breath. How she wanted to tear his lips apart now, after all the things he'd said to her and about her.

Cynder groaned, shaking her head and forcing her mind out of the painful thoughts of the past. The dragon she loved was gone, and her love gone with it, lost to the deepest, darkest depths of abhorrence.

They walked around in the rainforest for a few moments until Muras let out a cry, pointing towards a bright yellow flower, petals bursting around the top of the stem in a sphere. The stem was green but decorated with thin yellow stripes matching the colour of the petals. Muras smiled as he bent down and slowly picked the flower out of the ground. He put it in a satchel that he was carrying around his shoulder and turned to Cynder. "That was herochis." he said with a smile. "I'm surprised we found one that quickly; they're quite rare."

"Just our lucky day, I guess." Cynder said, shrugging.

They walked about for about half an hour longer, and they found about five more herochis flowers. "I think six is enough for now; they last for a while. We've been out for long enough as well. I don't like to be out for any longer than about forty minutes. This rainforest can be dangerous."

As if on cue, a snarl echoed up from around them, and Cynder froze. "Great, I just had to open my damn mouth. Look, we need to be careful. The creatures that live in this rainforest are smart and tricky. I've escaped them with many a wound before, and I'd say I'm pretty good with my self-defence." Muras said with a groan.

"Creatures? What type of creatures?"

"Wolves. _Big_ wolves, with lots of brains, and a _lot_ more teeth than the wolves we're used to. Big snouts, long claws and fangs, and a lot of strength. They're also feral, which means they're dangerous. _Very_ dangerous. They may be small, compared to us at least, but they could do a great deal of damage to us. They're big for a wolf."

"How big are we talking? Like… height-wise?"

"On all fours, about two and a half metres tall, sometimes three."

"That's bigger than a sentient cheetah, nearing _two_!" Cynder exclaimed. "That's pretty big for a wolf! They'd be about half-way up to our shoulders, with dragons being about seven metres tall!"

"Yeah, the damn canines are big. They're called titan wolves, named for their massive size; they're almost our height when standing on their hind legs. They've adapted to this environment; the thick foliage covers them well so they can hide and they can manoeuvre quite easily, despite their size. Alright, enough talking. We need to go. Now."

And with that Muras turned and walked off the way they came, Cynder following with a nervous glance behind her. It wasn't long before more snarls sounded around them. Cynder whirled around, trying to sense where they were. Muras spoke quietly to her. "Ignore them. They sense fear." he murmured emotionlessly. "And you'll never see them until it's too late. Their coats are dark, almost black, and blend in well with the foliage and the light levels here."

Cynder murmured in acknowledgement, and tried to ignore the snarls that slowly became more and more frequent as they walked. Was it a large pack, or was it just a small group following them? Or were they walking around in circles? Surely not. Muras had lived here for many, many years. He'd know the rainforest like the back of his paw, _surely_.

A long howl from the canines stalking them cut through the air, and Cynder jumped at the sound. Would they attack? She prepared herself in case a titan wolf leapt at her. But she kept her gaze on Muras, to make sure she didn't get lost, and to distract herself from the titan wolves. The howling began to rise from more throats, as if they were communicating. Or trying to distract them. Confuse them. _Scare_ them.

Then the howling went silent. The snarls and growls, too. There was no sound except the pawsteps of the two dragons. It was honestly very disconcerting. Cynder's ears hurt from the silence, and her heart was racing, expecting something to leap out at her. They walked for a little longer, and Cynder began to let her guard down. She opened her mouth to ask Muras if they were gone, until _massive_ wolves suddenly leapt at them from all directions with loud, threatening snarls. Cynder fell to the ground as the force from five speedy canines shocked her, but Muras braced himself, leaping backwards and swiping at two of the canines, sending them flying sideways. One of them was hit by the palm of Muras' paw, and it was unharmed, but the other was hit by Muras' claws, leaving behind three vicious claw marks across its face, bleeding profusely. The wolves snarled and leapt at Muras again. He released three fireballs, one at each of the two wolves, and the third at another wolf that had leapt out from behind him.

Muras ran to Cynder, letting out a savage roar, turning the wolves' attention on him, as they climbed off Cynder and leapt at Muras. With the weight off her, Cynder slowly stood, before spitting poison at two titan wolves that now leapt at her. They fell to the ground, convulsing vigorously as froth began to form around their lips. She then felt searing pain in her hind left leg as two more wolves bit down around it, and she shouted with pain. Their fangs were long and incredibly sharp; Muras wasn't kidding. Cynder flailed her leg about, but the wolves held on, prepared for the movement, digging their claws into her leg to increase the strength of their hold, as well as the severity of the pain in her leg as blood streamed from it.

She turned and spat large globs poison at them, and they let go of her leg, convulsing and clawing at their faces, before her chest suddenly flared with unbearable pain. She fell to the ground, shouting in agony. She looked down. There was no blood on her chest, and no wolf attached to her. Just pain. It spread out through her body, and her stomach heaved as it throbbed painfully. She cried out to Muras, before she retched. "Don't use your elements!" Muras instructed, pausing to breathe a small fireball at a wolf's chest; he didn't want to set the forest on fire, only get rid of the wolves that clawed him and bit him. "Your core isn't strong enough to handle strong bursts of elemental usage in a battle yet! You're going to have to fight physically for this one!"

Cynder groaned. Was Muras actually serious? She was going to have to fight without her elements, like a null. Sure, shadowclaws were immune to all the dark elements, but she still had wind, and her shadow element _did_ help her to dodge attackers. But now she couldn't use either of them. Wind was a pretty stressful element, and to shadow dash meant having to encase her body into her shadow, which would cause even _more_ stress upon her core than she wanted.

A wolf lunged at her, jaws wide open and claws outstretched. She let out a growl and caught the massive creature in her own jaws, feeling its blood spill down her mouth and into her throat, and she almost gagged at the putrid taste of the wolf's life force. She bit down harder, nonetheless, causing a loud crack to come from the body and more blood to squirt out of it, before she threw her head sideways, opening her jaws and sending the wolf flying into a large tree. It landed on the ground with a loud thump, before it lay still, its body covered in sticky red blood and head twisted at an awkward angle, a sickening kink in the wolf's bloody neck.

Three more wolves leapt at her, from the direction of Muras, who had been downed by about five or six wolves, but he still fought strongly. The satchel around his shoulder was crushed between Muras' bulk and the ground, crushing the herochis flowers they had just collected, rendering this outing completely useless. Cynder swung her tail around in an arc, slapping one of the wolves with the thick scales of her tail, sending it slamming into the ground, and another one was cut clean in half by her tailblade as it swung around, blood spraying everywhere as the two halves of the massive wolf landed on the ground with a thud. The third wolf was untouched by her, and it latched onto her face, clawing at her snout. She closed her eyes and let out a loud roar, shaking her head about savagely to try and throw off the wolf, but it held on tightly with its strong, sharp claws.

Pain flared through her right forepaw as the wolf she had hit with her tail recovered and slashed it with its sharp claws, snarling and growling viciously as it took heaps of flesh off her paw. She lashed out with her remaining forepaw, raking her claws down the three-metre-tall wolf's flank, and it let go of her with a howl. Cynder thrashed her head about much more violently, as the wolf on her face finally lost its grip and flew into the air, before landing on all fours next to the wolf that had attacked her paw, as well as yet _another_ titan wolf that had stepped up, growling and ready to leap at her. "They don't stop coming!" Cynder cried.

"Follow me!" Muras shouted, standing up. With one quick swipe, he batted four of the wolves attacking him to the side as they let out small yelps. "We're bigger and faster than them! We can outrun them!"

Cynder nodded, and Muras turned to run off, with Cynder on his tail. They barely made it a hundred metres before about ten wolves leapt out at them from the bushes. They had obviously been waiting there for them. Another five wolves jumped out of the bushes beside them, and another three behind them. The other seven wolves they had been fighting howled and barked angrily at them, and the dragons screeched to a halt. "I knew they were clever and smart, but I've never seen this many of them before! This is probably the whole damn pack, if not, ninety percent of it!" Muras exclaimed, stepping backwards only to be bitten in the hind right leg by a wolf, before he shook his hind paw savagely, throwing the wolf off him.

"There's almost thirty of them in the pack!" Cynder shouted back.

"Yeah, and we've only killed about six or seven of them!" Muras replied, before breathing three quick fireballs at the ten wolves in front of them, and they scattered. Well, eight of them did. One of them was badly wounded, its leg fried and unusable, and the other lay dead, its chest a smouldering mess of smoke, burned fur, peeled flesh, and lots of blood.

Cynder roared as she turned and swung her gleaming tailblade in a long, sweeping circle around her, cutting off the heads of about three wolves, and cut out the heart of another as it leapt up into the air towards her, raising its chest into the range of her tailblade. The other wolves ducked or leapt out of the way, and let out a few yelps as blood showered on them.

The wolves snarled and ran towards Cynder in a sprint, before half of them split off towards Muras. Her gaze turned to the wolves that ran towards Muras, and she shouted a warning to him, distracting her from the wolves in front of her. She was tackled to the ground by four of the massive three-metre-tall beasts, and she groaned with pain. These things really _were_ smart, weren't they? Cynder was surprised at how easily they were able to distract her.

With a groan, she threw the wolves into the air, as they landed a few metres away from her. She attempted to stand, before a wolf latched onto her chest, biting hard and dangling in the air, suspended by its jaws as it clung to the scales and flesh. Cynder let out a shout as pain seared through her chest again and she fell to the ground, blood streaming down the wound and splattering onto the green grass below her, as well as squirting all over the wolf's face.

Muras ran towards her before he swung his tailblade down, severing the massive wolf's head from its body, and its jaws opened slightly, letting go of her chest. Once again, she tried to stand, but the four wolves she had thrown off her leapt at her, latching onto all four of her legs with their long jaws and sharp claws, and she lost all feeling in them as she fell to the ground again, crying out with pain. Immense amounts of blood streamed down all four of her legs, and the wolves' muzzles and claws were stained red with her blood, and all her legs seemed to have gone completely red with blood. The amount of blood that streamed from them was shocking; the wolves must have punctured quite a few major arteries.

Cynder could only watch as Muras fought off the wolves; she was useless now. Muras slaughtered the four wolves on her legs, and they all let her go as they fell to the ground with dying yowls and whimpers, blood spilling from the fatal wounds on their bodies that Muras dealt to them. Muras clawed viciously at the wolves, killing another two or three of them.

A loud bark alerted Cynder as she looked in front of her, seeing a wolf closing in on her menacingly, saliva dribbling down its jaws. She let out a cry of help to Muras, and suddenly, with a loud resounding crack, the wolf fell to the ground, dead, its chest skewered on an earth missile.

An earth missile?!

Cynder stared at the impaled wolf with shock. A long, bloodied earth missile was embedded into its chest. Its heart had been destroyed, and blood flooded from its broken heart, spilling on the ground rapidly in front of Cynder's face. The question that resounded in Cynder's head was where the earth missile could have come from. _She_ couldn't use earth, and Muras was a _fire_ dragon. Her original thought was that since he was a mage, he could have replicated the use of the element. But last night, Muras himself had said that physical elements couldn't be replicated _at all_ by mages. And he _explicitly_ used earth as an example.

Cynder turned to look at Muras with confusion, which suddenly turned into shock as another earth missile flew into the chest of a wolf attacking him. The earth missile came from Muras' own maw. Now Cynder was growing suspicious of him. What was the so called 'fire' dragon hiding?

Muras let out a loud roar, and spread out his wings threateningly, saliva dripping from his jaws. It was a terrifying sight, and it seemed to Cynder that the wolves decided that it was not worth wasting more precious pack members on this vicious dragon. Over half their pack was dead already, and they didn't want to risk losing any more of their fellow packmates, so they turned and ran, barking and howling as they sprinted through the bushes, and they were gone.

Muras turned and rushed to Cynder's aid, but she flinched and slapped him in the face with an open wing when he was in slapping range. Muras staggered backwards and stared at Cynder in shock. "What was that for, Cynder?!" Muras exclaimed, rubbing his stinging cheek.

"What the hell _was_ that?!" Cynder screamed.

"What the hell was _what_?" Muras asked angrily, believing that he had been slapped for no reason.

"There is an earth missile in the chest of that wolf in front of me." Cynder growled, and Muras' face immediately fell. "And I _saw_ you release another earth missile at one of the wolves attacking you. That wolf has an earth missile in its chest, too. An _earth_ missile! You're a _fire_ drake. You shouldn't be able to shoot earth missiles!"

"I… I'm a mage. I can replicate elements. I replicated phantasm."

"Enough of your crap, Muras! You yourself said last night that mages were unable to replicate physical elements; always have, always will! And I quote you, 'Physical elements like fire and earth.' _Earth_! You said it yourself! And here you are, a _fire_ dragon mage, using a _physical_ element like _earth_!"

"Alright, look. I'm going to come clean with you, Cynder." Muras murmured, his voice filled with remorse. "I… I… I can shape-shift. Another… element… that I can replicate. _Truly_ replicate. My real element isn't fire. I'm… I'm an earth dragon. I-I-I didn't mean to use my earth element, I swear. It just… _slipped_ out. It was a complete accident, I swear."

To prove his point, he closed his eyes and, slowly, scale by scale by scale, his bright red scales went dark green. "I've always wanted to be a fire dragon, though. My parents wanted a fire dragon, always have. I-I-I was their only child. They loved me, being an earth dragon, but I… well, I wanted to make it up to them. So I learned to shape-shift by reading and studying, as Father didn't know how to. I spent so long learning. And eventually, I became a fire dragon in appearance, in hope to please my parents. But by that time, Father was already dead, and Mother didn't care about me at all, too overwhelmed by her grief, before she died the next day."

" _Lies_!" Cynder scowled, and Muras flinched, his face falling even furhter. "Last night, you breathed _fire_ to keep the campfire going when it began to dwindle! Hell, you were _bloody_ breathing fire in the fight with those titan wolves just _now_! 'Physical elements like _fire_ and earth, for example, _cannot_ be replicated.' You're a _hypocrite_ , Muras! Remove the façade!"

Muras lowered his head in shame, letting out a sob as tears began to fall from his eyes. "No, don't _cry_ on me, you _wimp_! _Scaredy-ape_!" Cynder growled savagely. "Get a hold of yourself and remove the _ancestor-damned_ façade!"

"Can I ask you not to freak out?" he asked, his voice small and pitiful.

"I'm not promising you _anything_."

Muras sighed and opened his wet violet eyes. Slowly, ominously, his now green scales began to change colour. But the colour that they were changing into struck unadulterated fear into Cynder's heart.

Purple. Rich, royal purple that rivalled Spyro's once bright scales.

Then, Muras was completely purple, and all the pieces came together. She suddenly realised how familiar his facial structure was, and especially the three crown-like horns on his head. She knew why he recognised him, where she got this sense of familiarity from. She _knew_ who this dragon was now, and rage bubbled up with in her, and she let out a savage scream. "MALEFOR?! YOU DECEITFUL, MURDERING, SCHEMING _LIZARD_!" she howled.

The purple dragon let out a scream as Cynder let out three strong siren screams at him, narrowly dodging each one. "Listen! Listen to me _please_ , Cynder!" he pleaded.

Cynder ignored his words and struggled to her paws, howling bloody murder and violent curses, before falling back to the ground again, her bloody legs too weak to hold her weight. She let out two thick globs of poison. The purple dragon dodged them both, causing Cynder to growl in frustration and fury.

Cynder inhaled to scream at him again, but her eyes rolled back in her head as her essence core screamed for mercy, and she landed on the ground, unconscious, left to the purple dragon's will.

* * *

 **Hey guys, again I'm very sorry for the slow updates but here's another chapter that was beta-read six months ago. I've made an update on my profile about it, but long story short, haven't heard anything from my beta-reader for four months and I kinda need to take the reigns up myself again if I want to keep posting this story. Still searching for a beta-reader so if you're up-to-date with the story, have beta-reading experience and are interested, please send me a PM. I've realised I do need a beta-reader, but so far it hasn't been working out recently, which is very unfortunate to hear, but I really hope my beta's doing well.**

 **[EDIT] Literally 20 minutes after posting this chapter I got a PM from my beta-reader lol. Not sure what the schedule for beta-reading will be like for him but hopefully it should be good now. Still interested in a second beta as a just in case.**

 **Also once more I've been making changes to the future of the story to make it flow nicer and Book 2's looking pretty good at the moment. Still got some things to work on with _Demonised_ first, but hopefully it should be finished by 2021 (just because next year seems like a stretch for me). I wanted to get it finished this year but unfortunately it didn't happen, so 2021's my goal. We're halfway through the story so hopefully I can get the chapters out nicely. **

**...**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **Yes, Electrika was listed because throughout the entire time Cynder had known Electrika, she had thought she was her friend and didn't suspect anything else, so back then, when she started getting other friends, Electrika was still _her_ friend, even if Cynder wasn't _Electrika_ 's friend. Even after the whole ordeal of the friendship being forced and fake, Electrika had tried to make up for it in the end, as did Cynder, but Electrika ended up killing herself before the proper friendship could even begin being developed.**

 **lord typhlosion:** **Well, if this chapter is anything to go by, Muras is not have any relations to Ripto haha. But incorporating _Classic Spyro_ elements into _Purple Legacy_ hasn't really been an idea I have thought of before. Kinda had a few thoughts and ideas here and there regarding _Classic Spyro_ elements in future books in the series, but not too much thought has been put into it yet. I might have to do that if it fits the overall story.**

 **Atlas FF:** **Thanks for the words man! Really glad to hear you enjoyed it! Honestly didn't think you were gonna like it and I have no clue why I thought that but anyway, it's good to hear. And with the slow pacing at the start etc., blame 2017 me for that lol. I've come a long way in two years, but even still I'm learning new things with writing all the time and still trying to improve.**

 **AquillaPrime:** **Glad you like the idea of the essence core. It was fun to come up with; took a bit of thought but it was fun nonetheless. Hope you liked this chapter!**

 **...**

 **Anyway, don't know when I'll get around to posting the next chapter, but oh well. Also keep watch for a new standalone _Spyro_ fanfiction coming from me too. I came up with another idea recently and I had to get it down, then got straight into planning. More info about it on my profile if you're interested.**


	32. Chapter 31: Revelation

She groaned as she woke, pain filling her body as she looked around. She flinched when she saw that she was in the cave that she'd been lying in for the past few days while she recovered. She looked to her left and flinched again as the purple dragon beside her lifted his paws from her flank, holding a fading, blood-stained spirit gem in his right forepaw. Stained with _her_ blood. He also had no façade up. He was completely purple as he had been when he first revealed his secret to her, and she let out a scowl. "Why am I here, and what are you doing?" Cynder scowled, her lips curling into a savage snarl.

"I'm helping you heal. What else would I be doing, Cynder?" the dragon replied softly, but Cynder wasn't buying it.

"Oh, cut the act, _Malefor_." Cynder scoffed scornfully, fed up with his lies and act to appear dumb and innocent. She knew who this dragon really was, and she couldn't… _wouldn't_ … believe _anything_ he said because of it. "I know you're up to something. Why the _hell_ would you be healing me after all you did to me in the past? You tortured me, corrupted me, and forced me to commit countless crimes and take thousands of lives! As a _child_! You didn't give a _damn_ if I returned to the Well of Souls or Concurrent Skies wounded and bleeding, and neither did Gaul! I WAS A CHILD, AND YOU COULDN'T BOTHER GIVING A DAMN ABOUT ME!"

"Look, I'm _sorry_ , okay. And please call me Muras. That's my _real_ name. I want nothing to do with that other name."

"Oh yeah? Like everything else you told me was real? You _lied_. You told me so much… _stuff_ , but it was all nothing but lies, _Muras_." Cynder replied, spitting out the name with so much abhorrence that Muras flinched. "I don't know what is real, but I'm starting to think none of it was, not even the fact that you're trying to heal me! Do you have any secret motives? Are you trying to heal me up just so you can hurt me all over again? So you can go and kill me _yourself_ , you damn sadist? What…?"

"I know, I _know_. I made up a fair bit of stuff, but in all honesty, quite a lot of what I told you was truth. I'm _serious_ , Cynder. The only things I lied about was information that would give me away as being a purple dragon. As being… As being M… Mal… M-M-Malefor. I-I-I don't want to be a purple dragon anymore, Cynder; everything I did haunts me, and I hate myself for it. Just seeing the colour of my own scales reminds me of everything I did. Seeing the colour of _your_ scales reminds me of the life I stole from you. Please, I know I did unspeakable things to you, to others, and to the whole world, but please give me a chance! I've _changed_."

"Do you expect me to believe that load of ape sh…?!"

"Don't you _dare_ , Cynder!" Muras interrupted, raising his voice for once. A deadly scowl formed on Cynder's face, but Muras stood strong in the face of it. "You know out of _anyone_ what it feels like to have done terrible things, only to change and turn a new leaf for no one to trust you!"

"The things _I_ did back then only happened because of _you_! It was all _your_ fault that my life was _ruined_! NOT MINE!"

"That doesn't matter! My point is, I _know_ what you went through, and _you_ know, to _some_ extent, what _I'm_ going through! I hid my true self because I didn't want to be shunned from society!"

"And yet you live out here, _alone_ , in this damned rainforest."

"I pop into Urgussen quite often to buy things and to socialise. I have a lot of friends there. Urgussen's like a second home to me, but this cave is my home. My _real_ home. It's the first place I could call home since Warfang. And yes, I used to live in Warfang."

Cynder glared at Muras, unblinking, breathing evenly and trying to appear calm, although her savage glare betrayed her boiling anger and distrust. Her emerald eyes pierced into his soul, her lips pulled back so that her gleaming fangs, as well as a decent amount of gum, was bared. What he'd just said put even more distrust into her, for now she knew that Muras used to live in her _home_ , and that _really_ disconcerted her. Muras groaned sadly. "What will it get you to trust me, Cynder?! I just want to start fresh!" he cried, tears starting to well up in his eyes. "I don't want any bad blood between us! I am so sorry, for _everything_ I've done! I just want to make it up to you!"

"It'll take a _long_ time for me to trust you, if I _ever_ do, Muras. _Especially_ after what you did to me. When I'm fully healed and ready to return to Warfang, you're coming with me. Someone with your past can't be trusted to be on their own. I want you where I can see you. I want you close. You can put up the façade back at Warfang if you want, but the fact of the matter is, _I_ know who you really are, Muras, and that's all that damn well matters. You can hide all you want, but you will _never_ hide from _me_. Because I want you to tell me _everything_. Absolutely _everything_ , you monster. Tell me the truth of what you lied about, and the truth of who you _really_ are. Who you were before your corruption, and what happened."

"Cynder, I _really_ don't want to have to speak about my personal life like that! Some of the things that I went through seriously _hurt_ me, and I don't want to share!"

" _Do it_ , or I will sever your paw from your wrist so quick you won't even see it _coming_." Cynder threatened, her voice low and dark, her tail lashing angrily, the heavy metal blade scraping harshly against the ground. "If you want to even _start_ to be trustworthy, to get on good terms with me, you need to tell me _everything_. _No_ secrets."

" _Fine_! I'll tell you _everything_! I'll tell you of all the _hell_ I've had to endure!"

"First, tell me about your powers and where they _really_ came from. We can save your hellish biography 'til later."

"What?! Can't I just get it done and over with _first_?!"

"No. I want to get to the more complicated stuff last, which I know this definitely will be. Plus I want you to go through it and relive it all like I had to for years on end! I had nightmares almost every night for the first two years after the war, and I was reminded every day of what I did! I want you to _hurt_ , just like _I_ hurt! I want you to _understand_ what _I_ went through!" Cynder snarled, rage contorting her face, lips pulled back to reveal sharp fangs that longed to feast on the purple's ugly flesh. Muras wiped a stray tear away from his eye with a nod as infantile screams from the past tore relentlessly through his head, and Cynder barked with laughter, watching him finally pay for his sins. She smiled wickedly, before chirping with a sadistic tone to her voice, "Alright, go on."

"Okay. My… my powers are all ones I learned as a child and growing adult. A purple dragon's essence core is… well, it's pretty much limitless when at full capacity. A purple dragon can learn every element known to dragonkind, except for a few, which are only unlocked due to inheritance; those ones are dark elements and sinister elements. I'm not sure if you know of the sinister elements, so I can go over them for you if you want."

"A few of my friends explained them to me a few days ago. Now go on and stop trying to avoid this!"

"Alright, _alright_ , no need to be so snappy! Anyway, my first few elements were fire, ice, wind, and water. My parents, and the guardians of the time, were shocked; they had heard of purple dragons and that they were among the most powerful species of dragon, but they thought that we had our own element, which is _somewhat_ true due to the existence of convexity. When they found out that I wielded four elements, they were surprised beyond belief. And then I learned earth and lightning, as well as telekinesis and time. Then I learned the art of the matter shifters, as those ancient dragons were called; they could create portals and teleport. I was fifteen when I learned phantasm. One of my father's friends was a phantasmal dragon, so he taught me. The guardians taught me earth and lightning after I mastered my first four elements, mainly by myself but with their help also, but I learned telekinesis, time and matter-shifting completely by myself. So yeah, I'm _not_ a mage, and neither was Father, as a matter of fact. He was just a plain old fire dragon with the _biggest_ heart ever. He was a blacksmith."

"So _none_ of your elements were replicated through sorcery."

"No, but it has been done; that much of what I said in that area was true. However, it is super hard to do so and very painful on your essence core. And like I said, only the supernatural elements could be replicated. Unfortunately, the mages didn't live long once they learned how to replicate elements. It eventually became an illegal practice, like I mentioned. All the stuff I said about the mages were truth apart from what I said about me and Father being one."

"Alright, I think that's most of your smaller lies covered up. Now come on, let me know who you are. Open yourself up to me. I need to know _everything_ before I can even _begin_ to trust you, given our past together. _No secrets_ , _no excuses_."

"Do I _have_ to?"

"Muras, you _will_ tell me, or I will slice off your forepaw where you sit." Cynder scowled, raising her scythe-like tailblade over his appendage to prove her point.

"Alright, alright!" Muras exclaimed fearfully, pulling his paw away with immense speed. "Put that thing away, please!"

"Sure, whatever." Cynder said, chuckling at Muras' sudden fear and lowering her gleaming metal tailblade.

"Alright. I, uh… Where do I start?" Muras muttered, pausing to think. "Alright, from the start; the day I hatched. It was about… oh ancestors, one thousand years ago, I think."

"One _thousand_?!" Cynder asked with disbelief. "You're in your _fifties_! I can tell by reading your horns and back spines, so if this is another lie, I'm gonna…!"

"It's not a lie, Cynder!" Muras interrupted, wanting to avoid another angry outburst from Cynder. "I'll get to that in a moment. It'll be easier for me to tell you everything in order. Just… bear with me while I speak. Please.

"So, I was born a thousand years ago, and I… well, I was an only child. I think my parents were pretty content with me being their only child; Mother never laid another one before she died when I was twenty-nine. They loved me, even if my colouring was odd. They had heard of the prophecy of a purple egg being laid every ten generations – one thousand years. They were nervous about me, unsure what it meant to have the dragon of prophecy as their child, so they were in close contact with the guardians of the time because of my existence. Because of that, I spent a lot of time around the guardians, like you and Spyro did with the current guardians."

"Well, yeah you can say that, except they were all _killed_ by _Spyro_ a few weeks ago!" Cynder interrupted flatly.

Muras was speechless. He stammered for a while, before groaning and lowering his head. "Oh, ancestors. Eight years since my dark self's demise and now a new dark being has risen, greedy for blood and murder. I had heard about Spyro having been turned, but to hear that the guardians have died troubles me a-a-and confirms everything I had dismissed about Spyro." he mumbled.

"Enough with that and get on with it! No more getting side-tracked!" Cynder scowled angrily, cursing herself on the inside for getting side-tracked and preoccupied with other thoughts.

"Sorry, sorry!" Muras exclaimed, before he sighed and shook his head. "Well, I was a shy child, and although I was energetic, happy, and determined to learn, I didn't like other children of my age, and I didn't have any friends. Mother and Father tried to get me out to play with other younglings, but it took until I was six before I finally decided to try and make friends. Jorgustus Herling and Farill Terrim were my two best friends; Jorgustus was an earth dragon about my age, descended from a royal heritage of ancient earth dragon kings on his mother's side, and Farill was a water dragon orphan two years older than me, who didn't get out of the orphanage much. In fact, the orphanage he stayed at is still in use today, or so I've heard from talk of other dragons in Urgussen. _Garfengel's Home for Orphaned Younglings_ , I think it's called. It was owned by a grumpy old ice dragoness in her eight-hundreds named Harlie Garfengel, and all of her descendants apparently took ownership of the place. She started it, and she turned it into a family business. Farill was always quite thin and malnourished, beaten up on the occasion because he was a big target of bullies, as well as Missus Garfengel herself, but when he was allowed outside to play, he always sought out me or Jorgustus, and we had a great time together. We actually ended up adopting him when I was twelve. No one else really wanted him, the poor, scrawny little kid. Mother and Father were kind enough to adopt him.

"Life was pretty cruisy for me until a few weeks after I turned ten, about two years before we adopted Farill. A group of dragons, a cult, as we found out later, had heard of my birth and had been in search of me for the previous ten years. They tried to beat me and kidnap me several times, but it took them eight tries to finally be successful. They grabbed me and took me away from Warfang. They apparently thought purple dragons were a curse unto the world, a mutated species created by the ancestors to leech off the wrongdoers of the world. This cult came from a place of mischief and crime, and with their beliefs and my existence, they wanted to be rid of me. So they took me to the Well of Souls, which contrary to popular belief, was a place that has been standing since the dawn of time; I did not create it. Anyway, the cult took me there to sacrifice me to the ancestors, but more importantly, to the fallen souls that slumbered in the Well. If that didn't work, they were hoping I would starve.

"Anyway, they dumped me into the Well of Souls, and they turned and left me down there. I was alone and stuck down there for days, _weeks_ , before I made it out by my own accord. I was a mere ten-year-old, surviving on my own, with nothing to eat but the bugs that made it into the chasm, and nothing to drink but the foul, dirty waters that ran down there. I don't know how many days I had been in the Well of Souls for before I felt an unearthly presence around me, almost demonic, before I looked up and saw Adrano and Zella meeting. That was the Night of Eternal Darkness, which only happens once every five hundred years, I believe, although I could be wrong. I was… entranced by the energy surrounding me; I don't remember why I was entranced, what pulled me in, or even much of what happened during my trance. All I know was that I was moved by my trance towards the beam of darkness that had sprouted out of there. You might be able to guess what happened then; you were there when Spyro was caught in the Well of Souls.

"Unlike Spyro, who had been _much_ more powerful than me when he was exposed to the Well's darkness, and who was two years older than me, I was never actually corrupted. My body almost fell apart, unable to handle the sheer power of the beam of darkness, and I lost consciousness before my body could physically corrupt like Spyro's. When I awoke, I was starving, and I gathered I had been out for at least a day; the sky was pink as the sun set. So again, I searched for a way out, climbing and feeding on nothing but tiny bugs for days, much like before."

Cynder scowled. "You should have stayed down there to starve and _rot_ , you _fiend_!" she said with a growl. "The pain and suffering you brought on this world was unimaginable and unforgivable."

"And what about _Spyro_?"

"What _about_ him?"

"Back then, all those eleven years ago, would you have wanted _Spyro_ to stay down there to starve? To rot? A mere _child_?"

"Well, n-n-no. He was a child then. And I… I… I l-loved him back then." Cynder said, choking back a gag.

" _Exactly_. I was a child, too. Two years _younger_ than Spyro was. I was young, immature, underdeveloped and weak compared to him." Muras replied, knowing that Spyro's power had surpassed his when he was a child, despite the fact that Spyro hadn't even known he was a dragon until the age of twelve. He swallowed, before continuing, "But I eventually managed to get out, and I wandered aimlessly for even longer. I managed to catch small mice and other animals to eat, but even they weren't enough for a young dragon like me, who was already thin and malnourished, ribs poking out of my chest and limbs scrawny and bony.

"About four days after I left the Well of Souls, I was found by a kind earth dragon. He took care of me and fed me well, and after two days of living in his care, I finally asked him if I could go home. When I told him I was from Warfang, he took me there after a shocked gasp. It was a five-day journey; I was ages away from Warfang, especially since after I left the Well of Souls, I had started wandering in the completely opposite direction to my home.

"But I was finally delivered home, and my parents were in tears as soon as they saw me. Apparently, I had been gone for two weeks and three days. I remember sleeping with my parents that night, too terrified to sleep in my own room. I slept with Mother and Father two or three nights _after_ that night as well. Jorgustus and Farill were happy to see me, too, as well as a lot of other kids, who had a newfound respect for me after surviving just over two weeks on my own.

"The next few years got progressively worse for me. I had many days of anger, and everyone close to me, as well as myself, noticed how grumpy I was becoming. Not aggressive, no, but I was quite down in the dumps a lot. But everyone blamed my experience when I was ten. It was a horrible thing to be alone for two weeks without your parents or friends, to be stuck in a deep cave, starving. But it was only later when I realised it was much more than that.

"I then went through many more trials before I finally turned at the age of twenty-nine. The first few included most of those that were close to me losing their lives." Muras continued, before listing each of his trials one-by-one. "There were my great-great-grandparents' deaths, as well as both of my great-grandfathers; all of which passed before I turned fifteen. Two of my cousins died of internal infection too, after being silly with some really toxic plants and fungi, and one of my uncles died in a war with the naga that happened when I was eighteen; the war was short however, lasting for only five months, and the naga went into hiding.

"Jorgustus even fell into a heavy depression as he was dumped by two of his girlfriends and _then_ found out that his third was cheating on him. He took his own life when he found his girlfriend was gravid with an egg that wasn't his, an egg that belonged to the other guy she had been meeting up with in secret. Jorgustus was so heartbroken it led him to death. The many days and weeks after Jorgustus' death was a really hard time for me and was equally as hard for Farill too. Jorgustus was my first ever friend, and he was a very happy, optimistic bloke. It was a shock to know that he had fallen so far to kill himself. We were both twenty-one when Jorgustus committed suicide.

"When I was twenty-three, a war broke out between Warfang and Wyaar, the capital city of the sentient wolf race, which, like many of the sentient canines, have all gone extinct, or have turned into feral beings, much like the titan wolves we fought yesterday; they were once smart and loyal wolves before they devolved into what they are now. Wyaar is nothing but an ancient city, abandoned, rotten and unused.

"I fought in the war for Warfang. I hated the thought of fighting, of taking innocent lives. I was actually asked to fight by the guardians; I only obliged because I thought it was a good thing to protect my home, and those around me, and because I thought I might be able to put a stop to the fighting.

"Apparently, the wolves were after _me_. The dragon race apparently had never thought much of the wolf race, and even though the wolves that fought us were residents of the wolf capital and had quite a lot of wealth, they were quite poor compared to Warfang, and were sick of the wealth difference and the dragons not paying any attention to them. Apparently, they had been trying to do trade with Warfang for many years, even since before I was born, but the guardians just ignored them. Since the wolves knew how much of a big deal I was to the dragon race, they had been out to get me ever since the war started. The guardians didn't know that, so the first time I left Warfang to fight, the wolves turned all their attention on me, and managed to take me hostage after they knocked me out. They placed a _very_ heavy ransom price on me, and the guardians _foolishly_ refused to pay them. It only made the bloodshed worse. My cousin died trying to rescue me during an invasion on Wyaar; he was so close to me, and then he was butchered right in front of my eyes. The wolves, as well as all the other canine tribes were all great swordsman. Swordfighting was the canines' thing, and archery was the felines' thing; it's always been that way, although the felines do normally learn a bit of swordplay in case they were reduced to close combat.

"The rescue mission was a failure, and I grieved hard for all the dragons who died to try and take me back, especially my cousin. I was the most depressed I ever had been, and it was then that I knew what Jorgustus felt like before he died." Muras murmured, the occasional tear dripping down his violet cheeks at the horrible memory of his grief and all those who had died to rescue him. "But I promised myself I would never fall that low to take my life, no matter how hard that may seem. I knew I still had others in Warfang who cared for me, so despite my struggle, I made sure I made it to the next day. And the next. And the next. I was in Wyaar for about three months before there was another rescue mission, and I finally made back to Warfang, malnourished once again, and utterly depressed. My parents and Farill were so happy to see me. I, uh… I was in a much worse place than I was when I returned to Warfang from the Well of Souls at the age of ten. I mean, it was three months instead of two weeks, and I'd just witnessed countless dragons die trying to save me. It wasn't great.

"I was excused from fighting until I recovered. I re-joined the army about eighteen months later, just before my twenty-fifth hatch-day. I never recovered fully from my shock and grief, and that resulted in the first time I had ever felt revenge for the merciless canines that took the lives of so many. I remember feeling so… _angry_. Hateful, _bloodthirsty_. I _killed_ without feeling _anything_ that day we invaded Wyaar. I… I-I-I m-murdered Rawwith, the wolf king of Wyaar. I _tore_ him to _pieces_. And then the wolves scattered in fear, retreating to the wild or the minor wolf cities and towns, and the war was over. No sentient wolf dared cross our paths _again_.

"I… I was seen as a hero for my feat. I never thought of what I did, nor thought that it was wrong. I-I-I realise _now_ how wrong it was, but… I… I loved the attention, and I loved being seen as a hero. The prophecy of the purple dragon stated that we were _powerful_ creatures, and I believed that I was destined for greatness. I became so obsessed to fix problems, that there were a few times before I was caught at the age of twenty-seven that I actually _caused_ the problems and tried to fix them _myself_. Just after I turned twenty-six, I decided I needed more dragons to help me cause the problems, so I found and hired a bunch of criminals who would do a crime and who would pretend scared and act like they were being beaten by me, as I would come in for the rescue in the nick of time. I would never hurt them that badly, though. I always let them go, so they could plan the next problem for me to fix. I paid them for it afterwards as well. But we made it look believable, and it took the guardians almost a year to figure out that I was the one organising this, and my parents were very unhappy about it.

"When I was found out, I was put in prison for a few months, as well as my recruits. I was cellmates with three of the five them. Working with them was one thing, but living with them was _very_ unsavoury, _especially_ when you were living with them in a prison cell. One of them was executed a few weeks into our sentence after he completely lost the plot and assaulted a few of the prisoners during one of our dinner hours, as well as two of the guards. One of the guards that he assaulted was wounded so badly he ended up in the infirmary for three days.

"I was almost twenty-eight when I was released, and I _tried_ to do what was right after that. But my mind was deteriorating, _fast_ , and I had no idea what was right or wrong at the time. I became a bully, and I said some real horrible stuff to Farill that almost caused him to commit suicide. My parents were quick to come to his side, and eventually, they seemed to forget about me altogether as they tried to help Farill make another day. I didn't make matters easier.

"It was my twenty-ninth hatch-day when things went completely downhill. I don't remember the whole story of what happened, but that day was when I turned into the Dark Master you knew so well, Cynder. Darkness took control of me, and I turned into a horrible monster. I wanted power, and I went to the guardians to get it. I attacked them, and they fought hard to stop me. I killed one of them – the ice guardian, Snowfang – and eventually they weakened me with a combined beam of elements. They threw me out into exile, and I returned to the Well of Souls. There I created the ape army and made my home there.

"When I next returned to Warfang, all of my family was gone, and I quickly learned why after I forced the truth out of the guardians. Farill had finally committed suicide; my parents were too shaken and shocked by my corruption that they were too busy dealing with their own grief to care about Farill.

"My father had fallen into a pit of despair after my fall and Farill's subsequent death, and he wanted nothing more but his own death, but he wasn't game enough to do it himself; the thought of spilling his own blood was unsavoury. So, to get what he wanted, he committed terrible things just so he could be killed by someone else. He literally hyped himself up at the thought of death and doing bad things _so_ much for so damn _long_ that he became a _maniac_ , devoured by anxiety, but most importantly, _extreme_ insanity. He murdered two dragons in public, and then downed a young dragoness and attempted to… to… to r…" Muras paused, sniffling as tears streamed down his face, shaking his head with shock as he voiced aloud what his father had done, and had attempted to do, just to achieve death. He took a deep breath and recomposed himself. "He… He was u-u-unsuccessful. The guardians caught h-h-him just before he could d-do s-s-s-so. In _public_. They threw him in prison, but barely two days after that, he had assaulted three more dragons, killing one of them, which was a guard, and managed to find a dragoness there who had been imprisoned for robbery. He was successful in what he tried to do the first time, and the guardians, as well as the prison guards, decided that enough was enough. He was beheaded in public the next day.

"Mother was devastated by what had happened to Father and all he had done. Just two days after his execution, she committed suicide too. Despite what you might have thought, I was heartbroken, even as the monster I was. It pushed me beyond my limits, and I suddenly had no feelings for anyone else who might have been close to me. When I invaded Warfang that day, I killed the rest of my cousins, and both of my remaining uncles, as well as my grandmother. I even found Jorgustus' cheating girlfriend, who had been mated to the dragon she had been dating in secret back when Jorgustus was still alive, and I murdered the both of them, too, as well as their seven-year-old son; I left the one-year-old daughter alive to suffer, to scream, to cry in fear and mourning, forced to watch as I spilled the blood of her family." Muras paused, taking in a shuddering breath and wiping tears from his eyes as he remembered that moment, the screaming kid bawling as she watched her family be slaughtered. "I shed so much blood that day, and it makes me sick to think about it all."

"Now you know how I felt every day of my life for the past eleven years. How I _still_ feel." Cynder said. "Except that I have _you_ to blame it on."

"Shut up! Please just shut up!" Muras snapped, his voice high-pitched and breaking with emotion. Cynder flinched at the sheer emotion in his voice and expression, his eyes red with tears, which were now freely flowing down his face. "I'm not finished my story yet! Just let me finish before you blame me and hurt me anymore! Although it's not like it's going to matter. I kind of deserve it; I've dealt enough harm and suffering in the many years of my existence that I deserve _every piece of hell_ hurtled my way!"

Muras panted heavily after his furious outburst, and Cynder could only look at him in shock. She was so confused right now. She didn't know what to feel. He was clearly hurting, and hurting a _lot_ , more than she _ever_ had hurt. But he was a _monster_. _He_ forced her to do all she did. But… what monster would be _crying_ right now? What kind of monster would try to heal her essence core? Doubt filled her, and she felt a sick feeling rise through her stomach. She quickly realised what this feeling was. Regret. She had done this to him. She was making Muras relive his hellish memories. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. _No, Cynder, NO!_ she thought to herself angrily. He's _the reason you're like this. A creature corrupted by darkness, forced to carry three extra elements, all dark elements, that caused your essence core to become so fragile it almost died. So fragile that_ you _almost died when you were first learning your dark elements. It's all_ his _fault, Cynder. You should not be feeling_ sorry _for him!_

She took a deep breath and swallowed, shutting out her doubt and feeling the hatred towards Muras burn in her chest once more. They stared at each other for a while, before Cynder growled at him, "Go on, Muras. I'm sure there's still more."

"FINE!" Muras snapped, wiping his eyes again, before he continued his story. "I… I-I-I only had a little bit of my true self left in me. I knew I-I-I wouldn't retain it any longer. So, ashamed of what I had done, and not wanting to associate my real name with what I had done to those who had brought me into the world, I changed my name. Ever since then, I went by Malefor instead of Muras, and then every existence of the original Muras was lost from the records, taken up by Malefor. Eventually, as Malefor, I destroyed a lot of the old records, especially those that contained me or my parents. Not much was known about me afterwards as an extra twenty years passed, all knowledge forgotten. Even the guardians, so focused on the war and training up a new ice guardian, had forgotten about my past. They tried to remember as much as they could from their perspective and memories as they could, and created the legend that the world now knows today of Malefor's birth and fall. They forgot everything about me, and my new home, the Well of Souls, in which the guardians then theorised that I had created it, which was not the case.

"The Chronicler would have explained that version of the legend to Spyro; there are things that not even the Chroniclers know. The sheer darkness of the magic I used to destroy old records actually carried over into the White Isle, the realm in which the Chronicler resides, closely linked to this world. And so, records were even destroyed in the White Isle, and were unable to be replaced.

"At the end of those twenty years, the guardians contacted the ancestors in an attempt to get them to help us. The one who answered was Aloelle, the first ever purple dragon, and known as the Giver of Elements. She is one of the most powerful spirits of this world, and she aided the guardians to imprison me into Convexity. It was a realm where the ancestors could watch over me, and a realm of emptiness where the energy of the purple dragons originates from. I was forty-nine when I was imprisoned in Convexity, and so I remained for another thousand years.

"Life was peaceful among the Dragon Realms as every city was repaired from my wrath. But even from my convexity prison, I still barely had the energy to connect to the real world to communicate with my dark army of apes. And so that is why apes used to attack dragon cities and towns on the odd occasion, trying to continue my goal of putting suffering and destruction on the world, as I tried to escape my prison.

"Then you came along. Gaul carried me inside crystallised convexity where I was able to see what was happening. I could sense the strength of each and every one of the unhatched younglings, and I assessed them on the energy of their essence core and their willpower, in high hopes that one of them would be able to free me. My original target was Spyro once I saw there was a purple egg there, but Ignitus was quick enough to take his egg and drop him in the Silver River, and I lost sight of him completely. That's why I had to go on a massive search to find one strong enough for what I had to give to them. I knew that my rescuer had to have the power of a purple to make it into Convexity, and I found you. Even inside your egg, you were strong and powerful, and your essence core was wild and lively. That's why I chose you, and when you hatched, I injected you with not only the power of darkness, but the power of a purple. That is the reason why we had to take training slowly for you, to get your core of one element, wind, used to becoming a core of a purple, wielding multiple elements, although it was only strong enough at its maximum to provide you with an extra three elements.

"You know most of what happened after, but I'm guessing your final request would be to know how I returned. As Muras, my _true_ self. Who I was born to be. You may remember when you knocked me down that final time, I was woozy and disorientated. I didn't have much more in me; I don't know how long I would have made it. The ancestors came to my rescue. All spirits of purples long gone, they came and spirited me away to the afterlife, where I met with Aloelle. She had a stern talking with me, and I was petrified of her. Originally, still filled with the spirit of Malefor, I fought and struggled against her, making it hard for her to get to me. But slowly, slowly but surely, she ended up purifying me, and I was me again. Muras. The purple dragon of one thousand years ago.

"Aloelle said that she was sorry for everything that had happened to me. I felt bad hearing Aloelle, the purple dragon firstborn, expressing _pity_ for me. But she gave me a task. The ancestors had more for me to do. I was to return as my true self and to wait until a confused, distressed soul came into my paws, and I was to look after them. And then I was told to wait even more, as the saying goes that every purple needs a mentor, and I was to mentor the next purple."

Cynder's eyes widened. "And that confused, distressed soul was me." she analysed, although slightly sceptical of the last bit of this story.

"Yes." Muras said, a smile creeping up onto his face for the first time all day.

"But… to mentor the next purple… that'll have to wait for a thousand years, won't it? I mean… There's still ten generations until the next purple is due to be born. And I doubt you'll ever mentor Spyro. Not now at least."

"Spyro isn't the only purple. Your son is still out there, Cynder. I believe _he's_ the one I'm meant to mentor."

"Forzen's dead." Cynder snapped angrily. "That's the _only_ thing I will _ever_ believe now. Even if he's alive, he's with _Spyro_. He'll grow up knowing nothing but death and violence, and only thinking that it is right, and that peace is wrong. Forzen will _never_ be the same. And so, I _cannot_ believe that the real Forzen is still alive, Muras. I will _never_ believe it."

"Never say never, Cynder. You may be surprised."

"I doubt it." Cynder scowled.

Muras murmured and lowered his head. He closed his eyes as he thought hard on everything he had said, tears threatening to spill from his closed eyes as he breathed deeply, trying to calm himself. He eventually did, before he let out a small scoff and a groan. "Eventually we established a spiritual connection, something every living dragon should strive to have with the ancestors. I can hear her voice sometimes. She really has helped me a lot as well. Every dragon will have an ancestral mentor, but most dragons don't have connections established with them and don't bother to listen, which is why many people complain that the ancestors don't answer their prayers. It's because they don't listen."

The purple dragon paused, before realising he'd gone off on a tangent. He scoffed again. "Anyway, now I'm just ranting. I've said enough. Goodnight." he muttered bitterly, before he turned and walked off, leaving Cynder alone to her thoughts.

Ancestors, she still didn't know what to think. It _seemed_ like Muras was telling the truth. It _seemed_ like he was truly hurting, truly regretting everything, but she didn't know if he was just a really good actor.

Yet he was healing her. A voice in her head snarled at her, saying that it was to give her a false sense of security, and to heal her so that Muras could do all the maiming and clawing and biting and bloodshed _himself_. What if he was still Malefor deep inside?

She _might_ have softened up to him, but only a little; there was still a huge amount of trust to be made up between them. And the key word here was 'might'. She still wasn't sure yet. She was so confused at what to make of all of this. Muras had been through some terrible stuff… but so had she. His pain was worse… but hers was still bad. No one knew what it felt like to be controlled by an evil being beyond your own control, to be forced to commit murder after murder, torture after torture, genocide after genocide… She killed soldiers, kings, queens, rulers, politicians. Elders, parents, aunts, uncles. _Children_. _Infants_. _Babies_. She had done unspeakable things in Malefor's name, and Muras was to blame for it. But he had done terrible things too, and for much longer than she had. Hell, he had even led his own family to their death, and more importantly, he led his father into insanity, causing him to do terrible things too.

Hell, what was she to do? What was the right thing to do? What was the right thing to think about Muras? Is he still Malefor and trying to trick her, or has he really turned a new leaf?

Cynder lowered her head back down on the soft nest she had been lying in for the past few days and closed her eyes, before she fell asleep.

* * *

 **This... has been a _long_ time waiting. It feels so good to finally have this chapter up. I remember this backstory for Malefor/Muras just popping in my head and I immediately knew I needed to include it. I'm really proud of this backstory, and I'm really interested to see what you all think of it.**

 **Also, I'm not surprised at everyone's reaction to Muras being revealed to be Malefor. Even my beta was a bit surprised by it lol.**

 **...**

 **Derick Lindsey:** **This twist has actually been teased at for a bit. I actually hid something pretty small a few chapters ago that actually said who Muras' identity was. Hopefully Muras' backstory was good and that you enjoyed it. And no I won't give Cynder a break haha.**

 **AquillaPrime:** **Glad you liked the extra expansion in the nature of the world. And yes, Cynder has a _lot_ of conflicting emotions, especially now after finding out that Muras is Malefor, and being told his whole backstory, which I also hope you like lol.**

 **...**

 **Anyway, this was a fun chapter, and first chapter of 2020 as well. Happy new year to everyone (even though it's the second but meh)! I aim to get a chapter out each month, but don't hold me to that, especially with me starting uni this year. See ya all in the next chapter.**


	33. Chapter 32: Terrorised

It had been a full ten days since the sieges on Urgussen, Larentine and Kryondyke. Stalking through the wet shrubs and plantation of the quiet, still swamp, Spyro thought back on the events that had happened since then. He believed it had been a very productive ten days, especially considering the progress he had made with his Dark Army.

Eight days ago, he had created altered variations of the shadowclaws and venomfangs in an attempt to 'evolve' them. He'd figured out how to make them sentient, much like Shorok and Vhara, allowing them all to speak in the common tongue. This had taken a while to achieve due to the mass of dragons he had been working on. He'd also allowed them to be able to change their scale colour to disguise themselves among normal dragons. Of course, he could see through these facades, as could Shorok, Vhara, Drachen, and all the other dark dragons.

They had been _insanely_ difficult to create, however. Almost every time the dark dragons would take their first breath upon coming to life, they would either implode or explode, and after many occurrences of this happening, Spyro had come to the conclusion that the dragons were carrying too much magic inside their bodies, and it was causing their own essence cores - which were already artificial - to break apart due to an overload of magic. Because of this, he'd had to take out the energy gems inside them, which made them easier to kill.

He had sent the sentient dark dragons out into the world four days ago to find some easy unsuspecting victims: people he could persecute or enslave, even children he could raise in Dark Peak. It really didn't matter what they found, as long as it was _something_ useful. He'd also connected their minds to his own so they could converse to and fro with him telepathically, which was being used right now to alert him of who they had found and to see whether they would be worth taking back to Dark Peak.

Another piece of progress that Spyro was really happy about was the younglings that he had collected. The sieges on Urgussen, Larentine and Kryondyke had been extremely successful, piling up a multitude of eighty younglings between the ages of newborn and six, and in the time that had passed since then, they had received another forty. Each youngling had been put into a large 'cell' which had been excavated by many earth dragon slaves under Drachen's watch. Inside this cell, they would get to know each other before their proper training began. This was to get them used to each other so they would develop good comradery and trust between them. After all, he didn't want violent outbreaks between any of them when their task was at hand. They needed to get used to each other. The plan was to have them there for a couple of weeks before they were to be injected with dark energy, as it'd give them even _more_ strength and abilities to help get rid of anyone that was against him, as well as all the oppressors that put down people. After that, the training would _really_ begin.

And now, since sending out the sentient dark dragons, three of the venomfangs had alerted the Dark Overlord of a nomad family making their way through the swamp, consisting of four strong, young and mischievous children, all perfect traits to be able to carry out his plan to rise up and rid the world of the oppression that challenged many poor souls. The alert was almost immediate after they had arrived at the swamp, which was a two-day flight. He had immediately left to make his way to the swamp to meet up with the kids, before bringing them back to Dark Peak with him.

He was unsure what he would do with the parents, however. He was thinking he could take them in as slaves. He had a lot of slaves, as the past few days had been great for slave intakes. All children under six were taken in for the special training, which they would be bound to for the rest of their lives. If there were children older than six, they were forced into slave labour like the adults, and depending on how competent or strong they were, they were sometimes outright killed if requirements weren't met.

The Dark Overlord had decided that once a dragon turned six, they became more useful in other areas around Dark Peak, being more competent and developed, even though they are still extremely young. He also believed that they became independent and rebellious at that age, and that they may not obey him as much as those trained to do so at a younger age, as the age of six is when the main ingraining of the world's understanding begins to diminish in a child's brain. It would be easier to ingrain the types of things he would need to into the brain of a child under six years of age. Even with the aid of darkness, it would still be a challenge, even if it'd be made easier; Spyro assumed this was why Aerus fell out of his grip so quickly. The kids would latch onto him at a young age, believing him to be in the right as this would be ingrained into their heads, unlike every other dragon in the Dragon Realms. The children would be loyal to him and him alone, and they would help him execute his goals.

Spyro slowed as he began to hear voices in the distance, cutting through his thoughts. Eventually, he brought himself to a stop, spotting some dragons sitting around a campfire in a clearing just in front of his hiding spot in amongst the shrubs and large mushroom trees. A few metres away from the dragons was a deep, bubbling bog, stretching for several hundred metres. Four children were chasing each other around the clearing, giggling and shouting as they wrestled and ran. They were all young; three of them were four years old and the other was two, the triplets female and the single child male. Two of the girls were ice dragons, like their father, and the other girl and the boy were both earth dragons, like their mother. Three other dragons sat by the two parents by the campfire, and Spyro knew these were the sentient venomfangs that had contacted him about this family. They each wore different masks. The female wore the red mask of fire, the first male wore the green mask of earth, and the other male wore… the brown mask of a _null_ dragon…

Interesting choice. They were coming across as weak by having a 'null' in amongst their ranks, as null dragons were often thought of as unable to defend themselves due to having no element. He hadn't expected them to think of _that_ , those smart creatures. The sentience was really paying off.

The kids screamed cheerfully as they ran about and wrestled in the flat clearing, weaving through several small rocks that were pretty big in their perspective. The earth dragoness squealed as she was chased by one of her sisters, both running in the direction of the deep bog. The mother noticed and let out a sharp yelp, standing to her paws. "Falka! Nora! Get away from there or you'll fall in the bog!" she scolded, causing the two young sisters to screech to a half with short squeals.

"Sorry, Mummy. I was just chasing Falka," the ice dragoness muttered, looking down at her paws, her lips drooping in a frown.

"You can do that, Nora. Just don't do it so close to the bog," the mother said sternly.

The other two siblings walked towards the adults, concerned looks on their faces after seeing their sisters in trouble. "Mummy, what's wrong?" the little boy asked, eyes wide and curious as he tilted his head. "Why are Falka and Nora in trouble?"

"Oh, it's alright, Rast'en. Your sisters were just getting a bit too close to the bog," their mother said.

"Don't get too close. We just want you to be safe, okay? You too, Shei'ka," their father added, making sure that Rast'en and Shei'ka didn't make the same mistake their sisters did.

"Yes, Daddy," Rast'en mumbled, looking down at his muddy green paws. Shei'ka just groaned.

The brown null dragon scoffed. "Come on, guys. Just let the kids play," he said, brown eyes sparkling with faked innocence, a calm smile pulling at his lips.

"But it's not safe," the mother said.

The fire dragoness flashed her teeth in a warm smile. "They'll be perfectly safe, Rey'linn," she said to the mother, her voice soothing and soft. "You've got three extra pairs of eyes watching out for them. Us nomads will look out for other nomads, after all."

Rey'linn smiled back at the fire dragoness, relief shining in her eyes. "Thanks," she muttered.

The earth dragon smiled too. "Yeah, they'll be safe," he said.

Spyro took a deep breath. It was time to come out now. Reaching out in his mind, he established a connection with the three venomfangs and said, _I'm here. I'm coming out now._

 _Welcome, Master,_ the fire dragoness replied, giving a quick glance in Spyro's direction where the connection was originating from, giving him a brief wink that went unnoticed by the nomad family.

"I agree with your nomad friends," Spyro piped up as he stepped out from his cover, speaking loudly and firmly, his posture tall and powerful. The nomad family began to cower in fear at first sight of him, the children running into their parents' arms as they immediately ordered them to do so. The disguised venomfangs made the effort to look frightened, as if to keep up the disguise for just a little bit longer. "I did grow up here, after all. _And_ I survived," Spyro continued.

"And that's _not_ a good thing! You should have died along with that beast _Malefor_!" the father scowled, baring his teeth threateningly at the indigo dragon.

Spyro scoffed with a roll of his crimson slitted eyes, unfazed by the pitiful attempt to be threatening. The dragon's shaking was obvious to the plain eye, and fear swallowed up his eyes. " _Everybody_ tells me that nowadays," Spyro spat with a dark chuckle. "That line really doesn't come across as intimidating or hurtful, you know. It's just so… _bland_ and _empty_."

"Daddy? Is this the bad dragon you were telling us about last night?" Nora asked, her voice trembling with unadulterated fear.

" _Bad_? Ouch, ' _Daddy_ ', why do you say such hurtful things about me?" Spyro mocked with a pout, sticking out his bottom lip, before he began to laugh. Nora gave a whimper at the sound of Spyro's devilish chuckles. "No, I'm not _bad_ , little one. Some… _hurtful_ dragons just seem to think that way. My name is Spyro. I saved the world a couple years ago."

"Mummy said you killed people!" Rast'en wailed, sobbing heavily.

"Well, I won't kill you, my boy. You'll be safe with me, I promise," Spyro said calmly and soothingly. "Safer than you will be with your parents. I mean, they almost let Nora and Falka run into the bog. Didn't they, girls?"

The two little dragonesses wilted at the sound of Spyro speaking their names, and they refused to answer, pressing even further into the protective embraces of their parents. Rey'linn turned to her mate and whispered to him, unadulterated fear edging every word she spoke, "T'aligorn, we need to leave. _Now_."

"I know, Rey'linn, but how?" the ice dragon whispered. "We're kinda cornered here!"

Rey'linn turned to the fire dragoness sitting next to her. "Would you and your friends be able to distract him while we escape? Please? We need to protect the kids," she pleaded.

The fire dragoness turned her head towards Rey'linn, her expression emotionless, making the motion somewhat eerie. "I agree, the kids need to be kept safe," she said, standing up and walking towards Rey'linn. "But they're not safe with you."

"What do you… _ungh_!"

The fire dragoness clawed Rey'linn in the face, sending blood dribbling from the deep claw wound as she fell to the ground, letting go of Shei'ka and Rast'en, who she had been holding firmly. Shei'ka and Rast'en ran towards their father T'aligorn, tears streaming down their faces from the sudden violent outburst. Rey'linn cried out in pain, scrambling backwards as the fire dragoness advanced on her. The fire dragoness kicked Rey'linn in the stomach, forcing a pained groan from her throat, before she slammed her fists down on her head twice, knocking Rey'linn out on the second hit.

The children all stood in T'aligorn's grasp, crying in fear. T'aligorn was also weeping, not only in fear for his own life, but for the lives of his children and his mate. His eyes stayed fixed on Rey'linn's body, scared for her wellbeing.

"She's alive, you pitiful, weeping mutt; just unconscious," Spyro growled. "Now, get him away from the kids."

At Spyro's order, the three 'nomads' lifted their facades, revealing their black-and-green venomfang scales, before they began to ascend on T'aligorn and his for children.

"You… you… you _liars_! You were _never_ there for us!" T'aligorn accused, his voice wobbly as tears streamed down his face, his eyes wet and bloodshot, flicking between each of the venomfangs.

"This life you lead for your kids, a nomad life, where the majority of dragonkind will look down on them, is not safe for them. Whenever you will enter a draconic civilisation, they will be bullied and treated unfairly because they do not have a home," Spyro explained. "Nomads always were looked down upon, and still _are_ ; I've seen it as of recently. They'll be safer among other children, where they can belong equally among them. I can take them there."

"You don't know what's best for my children! _I'm_ the father!" T'aligorn shouted. "As for your claims, you're insane! You're _delusional_!"

"Is he, though?" one of the male venomfangs said as they closed in on T'aligorn and the kids, forcing them backwards. "Spyro _is_ the purple dragon after all. He _knows_ what he's talking about."

"Being the purple dragon doesn't mean _sh_ …!"

T'aligorn stopped as he felt his hind paw descend with a wet splat into the bog as cold mud seeped over his toes. He also suddenly noticed his tail was half-submerged. They were cornering them into the bog.

The three venomfangs continued to close in on them, and T'aligorn was forced to drag himself and his kids further and further into the bog. Soon the four-year-old triplets were submerged halfway up to their necks, and little Rast'en was submerged up to his mouth, causing him to climb up onto one of his sisters, breathing hoarsely and spitting out the foul, muddy water, choking and gagging on the sickening liquid.

"Give the kids over, T'aligorn," Spyro ordered.

"No."

 _Very well. Kill the fool,_ Spyro ordered to the venomfangs.

Spyro clicked his talons, and the three venomfangs immediately sprang into action, sending mud spraying everywhere. The female lunged at T'aligorn, grabbing him by the neck and cranium in her forepaws, standing in the bog on her hind legs, and the two male venomfangs fished the kids out of their father's grip, taking two each and placing them back on dry land, holding their muddy forms firmly so they couldn't escape.

T'aligorn was in hysterics. "GIVE THEM BACK!" he howled, tears streaming down his face, eyes hazy and bloodshot. "GIVE THEM BACK, _PLEASE_!"

The female venomfang chuckled, leaning forward and whispering slowly in his ear. "It's alright, T'aligorn. They will be safe with us. We will keep them alive," she breathed, sending a shiver down his spine with the words she was saying, as well as the way she whispered. She was right up in his ear. He could feel her hot breath against his scales. "You, on the other hand, deserve death, for forcing them into this dangerous, horrible nomadic life with no home, as well as speaking foolishly towards the Dark Overlord."

T'aligorn let out an angry growl, struggling against the she-venomfang savagely. He threw his weight around, and she fought desperately to keep her grip on him. With a growl, the venomfang dug her claws into his flesh and shoved him violently into the mud, holding him under. Large bubbles began forming on the surface of the mud as T'aligorn fought for air, choking and suffocating underneath the surface. He thrashed about violently, managing to throw the venomfang off him, causing her to land with a heavy splat in the mud. He stood, hacking and choking on mud that began dripping down his chin. He turned to the she-venomfang, lips curled in a threatening snarl.

The venomfang was unfazed by the display of anger as she rose from the mud and hissed back at him, before she shot a massive glob of green poison at him. It landed with a splatter on his shoulder, and he let out a pained cry, tears forming in his eyes once more as his voice cracked. While T'aligorn was distracted, staggering dumbly about in the bog, the venomfang leapt at him, knocking him down to the ground and lashing out with her claws at his neck, scoring a massive, nasty cut down the side of it. He spat some more venom directly into the bleeding cuts. T'aligorn let out a scream, kicking out to throw the venomfang off him.

He stood, knees wobbling and lungs heaving for breath, the terrible taste of vomit starting to run up his throat. He watched as the she-venomfang picked herself out of the mud once more, giving him a wicked smile of finality before stepping out of the bog, leaving T'aligorn alone, unable to move as he swayed, nausea overtaking him.

"Daddy! Daddy get out!" Nora shrieked from dry land, tears streaming down her little face. "DADDY!"

T'aligorn looked over to his children before he let out a disgusting, harsh retch as he stumbled backwards, further into the bog. The ground underneath the mud took a heavy dip and he tripped, falling down the ditch as the mud reached his knees. He steadied himself, breathing heavily as he tried to calm down, until his stomach rebelled and he vomited violently into the bog, forceful retches and coughed overtaking him. Strings of saliva, blood and digestive fluids hung from his lips by the time he had finished vomiting. He coughed, before he vomited a second time, the horrid mixture floating about and dispersing inside the mud he was standing in. He reared his head back as he let out a gurgled scream of agony, his jaws widening to expose his throat, which was beginning to deteriorate as the venom spread throughout his body, up his neck and into his oesophagus, before attacking his maw. Black spots dotted the pink flesh in his maw, which was also beginning to sag. His lower lip was beginning to sag, exposing his rotting, bleeding gums. He let out another gurgle, and his throat visibly constricted, pushing blood up out of his oesophagus and into his mouth. He bent over again to vomit, but this time, he vomited up nothing but thick, dark red blood. His face contorted as it visibly began to rot, each feature folding into itself and pushing out a sticky mixture of blood and pus.

With a heavy twitch of his left foreleg, his left forepaw gave way. He landed with a heavy splash into the bog, submerging himself so that his entire snout was underneath the mud. He tried to stand but slumped back down into the mud. Bubbles burst out from the surface of the mud, and muffled groans could be heard. He began to thrash and convulse, throwing mud everywhere as he tried to pick himself up out of it, but he was unsuccessful. Blood seeped from every crevice on his body, turning the dirty, muddy, vomit-filled water a dark red hue. He looked towards his children, pain, longing and grief sparkling in his bloodshot, rotting eyes, before they glazed over, and his head slumped sideways. His now limp paws lost their grip on the ground beneath him, and the bog began to carry him out further into the deep end. His weight carried him under, and before long, T'aligorn was gone, completely submerged under the mud.

After this nasty display, all four children were reduced to tears as they bawled. Spyro rolled his eyes at the pitiful emotions they all released. "It's alright, little ones," he said, trying to swallow his frustration and impatience. "We're going to take you to your new home, where you can finally be equal with the other kids… where you can live properly without being ridiculed for living a nomad life."

"BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE EQUAL!" Shei'ka howled. "I WANT MY DADDY BACK! I WANT MUMMY TO WAKE UP!"

"I DON'T WANT TO GO, PLEEEEEEASE!" Nora screamed, long and loud.

"MUMMY! DADDY!" Falka screamed, repeating each word over and over again.

Rast'en just let out an ear-splitting, wordless screech, unable to speak after what he had just witnessed. He paused to take a hoarse breath which he had to fight valiantly for, before he screamed once more. The two-year-old's throat burned relentlessly, but he didn't care, as he continued to let out his grating howls, staring at where his father had once stood in the bog, his blood and vomit still floating about inside the muddy water.

Spyro groaned, his ears beginning to ring from the mournful howls of the four children. "Take the kids to Dark Peak. And the mother. She can serve as a slave," he ordered the three venomfangs. "I'll follow a little behind, just so I don't have to keep listening to those _damned_ kids scream."

The venomfangs nodded, the males taking two children each, and the female making her way towards Fey'linn's unconscious body. They were about to fly off, until Falka let out a shrill shriek, managing to squirm her way out from the grip of the venomfang holding her. The venomfang snarled in surprise, and Spyro turned to run after Falka. The four-year-old dragoness made it about fifty metres before Spyro caught up, knocking her down violently, causing blood to stream from her nose as her face slammed into the ground. She let out another shrill scream of pain and fear as she rolled quickly, rolling underneath Spyro's paws as he brought them down ready to pin her to the ground, before she then got up nimbly and continued sprinting out into the swamp as fast as she could.

Spyro growled in frustration, turning to the three venomfangs. "She-venomfang, follow me. We've got a hatchling to catch," he ordered quickly. "You other two, take those three and the mother back to Dark Peak."

"How? I can't hold onto three squirming kids, nor can one of us hold a kid _as_ well as the mother!" the venomfang protested.

"WELL FIGURE IT OUT! KNOCK THE KIDS OUT OR SOMETHING TO MAKE IT EASIER! JUST GET THEM TO DARK PEAK!" Spyro roared, before he turned and ran off in pursuit of Falka, not even looking to see if the she-venomfang was behind him.

Falka had made a fair bit of ground over the past few seconds that Spyro had let her run while he barked orders at the venomfangs, but Spyro, being significantly larger and faster than the four-year-old dragoness, caught up quickly. He knocked her to the side with a heavy swing of his massive, strong paw, forcing a heavy grunt out of her as she slammed into a mushroom tree with incredible force. More blood was forced out of her nostrils as it streamed in torrents down her face, followed by her mouth as she bit hard on her lip from the impact she had just undergone. Tears streamed down the frightened child's face. Seeing Spyro and the she-venomfang closing in on her, Falka let out another shriek, scrambling to her paws and attempting to climb up the mushroom tree.

Spyro lashed out to grab her, but she was already too high for him to reach, being the agile little creature she was, and before long she was running across the top of the mushroom cap. He let out a savage growl, cursing Falka for her tiny size, before swinging his tailblade around and slashing through the trunk of the mushroom tree, causing it to topple over. But Falka was already in the air at this point, leaping towards the next one, turning the long line of mushroom caps into a long runway to try and escape from Spyro. The Dark Overlord cut another mushroom tree down, but yet again, Falka was already in mid-air as she leapt towards another one, her agility coming from unadulterated adrenaline and fear. Filled with rage, Spyro released a burning beam of plasma from his maw at the tree afterwards, before turning his head and knocking down the next three trees with the plasma beam. Falka fell down with the mushroom tops, flapping her wings frantically but unable to fly. She flapped about in a way that made it seem like she hadn't been taught how to fly yet as both wings flapped independent of each other, making it impossible to catch air.

Stupid parents. They _should_ have taught her at the age of three. _All_ Warfangian hatchlings learned to fly at the age of three; it was a vital task every dragon needed to learn and accomplish. Falka obviously hasn't been taught yet, and he scowled at her parents' stupidity. They were _clearly_ of no use to their children if they hadn't taught a four-year-old how to fly. Of course, Spyro was twelve when he learned to fly, but he hadn't been raised by dragons. The dragonflies didn't even think he _could_ fly, hence Sparx's shock when Spyro first flew eleven years ago.

Falka fell with a heavy thump on the ground, knocking the wind out of her and breaking a leg with a loud resounding _snap_. The dragoness let out a shrill scream as pain flared through her severely broken leg, the bone sticking out of the flesh, blood spilling from the wound. She scrambled backwards on her rump as best as she could with her three functional paws, the broken one dangling uselessly on the ground.

The she-venomfang quickly ran up behind Spyro, spitting two small blobs of venom just in front of Falka, trapping her between the venom and the large stump of a fallen mushroom tree that she had just backed herself up against. Spyro walked menacingly towards Falka, whose crying began to get even worse. Between each ragged sob that wracked her fragile green form, she started to plead for mercy, plead for help.

Plead for Mummy and Daddy.

"Oh, Falka," Spyro said with a low, sadistic chuckle, before reaching down to her and picking her up by her nape in between two large, sharp claws, causing her to curl up instinctively as if in a hatchling hold. Her form still shivered inside Spyro's grip, and her sobs were heavy and choking as she now began to cough violently as she wept, taking hoarse, shaky breaths between each choking sob as she fought for air. "I'm sorry, I really am, but we need to get you to Dark Peak now. You will be well looked after, unlike when you were with your good-for-nothing parents. They haven't even taught you how to _fly_ yet. Come with us and help us fight back. Fight back for the children that are oppressed and not looked after, the unloved children and the children with disabilities."

"B-b-b-but I-I-I-I don't w-w-wa-ant too," she croaked in between her grating, choking cries. "I-I-I j… j-j-ju… I j-just want M-M-Mummy! I w-wa-want Daddy!"

"Parents mean _nothing_ if they don't look after you or make sure you're safe. Parents who are like that don't deserve to have children."

"B-b-but M-Mummy s… s… M-M-Mummy said not to r-r-run around the b-b-bog. Sh-she _was_ making sure I-I-I w-w-was safe."

"Oh, stop arguing with me, you little _brat_. You are coming with me. _Now_."

"NO!" Falka snapped, her face contorting with anger despite her trembling bottom lip and the relentless streams of salty tears that flowed down her small green cheeks. "I-I-I… I _won't_ go w-w-with you! Y-y-you are a _mean_ dragon! You took D-D-Daddy from me, a-a-a-and you're going to t-t-take Mummy, too! I _ha-a-a-ate_ you!"

Spyro roared in unadulterated anger, unable to help his rage-filled actions as he threw Falka to the side, causing a loud crack to fill the air as she landed on the ground. She let out an ear-splitting howl as she lay on her back, which was clearly broken due to the way her body arched and twisted, her three good legs pointing up into the air and twitching spasmodically. Her broken leg hung by her side, twisted and bloodied, yet still twitching much like her other legs.

There was a startled, frightened shout from behind Spyro as the crack from Falka sounded, and he turned around to see Sparx, Nina and Flash hovering between two mushroom trees, looks of fear and absolute disbelief etched on their faces. Nina had a hand raised over her mouth, eyes already teary. Flash held her firmly, teeth clenched as he was trying to hide his own emotion. Sparx hovered beside them, tears also in his eyes, arms hanging down his side and mouth hanging open in absolute shock.

Spyro hesitated upon seeing them, and his anger fell for just a tiny moment. There was an uncomfortable silence between them. The only sounds that could be heard were the howls of agony that tore from Falka's maw. Even the she-venomfang that had accompanied Spyro wore an uncomfortable, awkward expression. "I, uh… I might take the kid back to Dark Peak now, Master," she suggested, turning to walk towards the broken earth dragoness.

Spyro just let out a snarl, stopping the she-venomfang in her tracks as, without even looking at Falka, he slammed his tailblade down on her neck, silencing her with a sickening snap and squelching of thick blood. Nina let out a shriek, and Sparx and Flash let out alarmed shouts. "Don't bother," Spyro growled, his burning rage returning to him in heavy, crushing waves. With a dark snarl, he twisted his tailblade around inside Falka's bloody throat in an attempt to wedge it free, before he yanked it out with another spray of dark blood. Nina almost threw up at the sickening display. "The damned kid was no use to us with a broken back anyway; she would've been paralysed for life. Go back and meet with the others. I need to deal with _this_ nuisance of a situation now, and I _do not_ need you here to make matters worse."

"Yes, Master," the venomfang replied, before taking off in the direction of Dark Peak, leaving Spyro alone with his foster family.

Spyro hadn't taken his eyes off the dragonfly family this whole time, all three of them quaking in fear under his rageful crimson gaze. Their own gazes constantly flicked between his blazing red eyes, his blood-streaked tailblade, and the gory corpse of the little four-year-old youngling. After a few moments of awkward, fearful silence, Sparx flew forward cautiously, breathing heavily. "Spyro? P-p-please say that it's not y-y-you," he stammered, tears building up in his eyes, his voice breaking as he spoke.

"You _wish_ it wasn't me, _brother_ ," Spyro spat harshly.

Sparx recoiled at the words, before he shrunk in on himself, wrapping his arms around himself as the tears finally made their way out of his eyes. He found he could not look away from the large dragon however, fear keeping his gaze fixed on him. Nina was already crying into Flash's shoulder, who held and caressed her gently, softly shushing her as she wept. Flash was starting to show signs of crying too as his eyes began to fill up with tears. Spyro just scoffed at the dragonflies' pitiful emotions.

Sparx brought in a shaky breath as he spoke, his voice hoarse as he constantly tried to swallow the thick, suffocating lump in his throat after each sentence. "We heard the screaming from home and decided to come and have a look, out of curiosity and to make sure everything was alright. We never expected to see you, and at first all we saw were purple scales. I… I was… _ecstatic_ … to see you again. So were Mum and Dad. But then you… you… We saw you…" Sparx murmured as he wept, looking at the body of Falka a few metres away from Spyro, head separated from her body in a dark red mess of blood and entrails, reddened maw open in a silent howl and empty jade eyes staring blankly up at the sky. He blinked, tearing his gaze away from the horrid sight, looking back to Spyro, forcing more tears out of his eyes. "What happened? This isn't you! Beating up and killing _children_?! This is against _all_ you fought for back in the Dark War! What _happened_ to you?! Where did the _old_ Spyro go?!"

Spyro scoffed, rolling his eyes. "The old Spyro is _gone_. It's been seven years since we parted ways, and I've _changed_ since then. I've learned so much that the change has been massive. In fact, because of how big the change has been, the old Spyro is _more_ than gone. He's _dead_ ," Spyro replied.

"What _happened_ to you, Spyro?" Sparx pleaded once again, wanting an answer. " _Please_ tell me! I need to know that _Spyro_ is still there! I need to know if the dragon I came to know and love with all my heart is still inside you! I need to know if my _brother_ still exists!"

"I am _not_ you brother, Sparx! I _never_ was!" Spyro snapped, causing Sparx to recoil backwards from the force of the retort and the snapping jaws and gleaming yellow fangs that hovered in front of him, almost jeering at him to get closer and become mincemeat. "To think a _dragonfly_ could ever have a _dragon_ as a brother! To think a dragonfly could _ever_ try to attempt to _parent_ a dragon!" He aimed this last phrase at Flash and Nina, turning his demonic glance to them as he said this.

"Son, what has gotten into you?" Flash asked as he continued stroking his whimpering, terrified mate, trying to calm her down.

"I'm not your son, Flash," Spyro growled. "You were a fool to think I would remain your son. That I _could_ remain your son. I've learned so much since I left you, and I know what you are now. Frauds. Ape-hearted _cowards_! Tiny little creatures who thought they could become famous and large among their own kind for raising the _purple dragon_ of _legend_! Mindless little morons who wanted the satisfaction of controlling and disciplining him!"

"Spyro, what in the spirits' names are you even talking about?!" Flash exclaimed.

"Oh, don't act _dumb_ on me! You never adopted me because you cared for me! You just wanted to be popular among the dragonflies for raising the purple dragon of legend. You wanted to be better than all the other dragonflies here in the swamp. You wanted to be better than _me_! You only wanted a high status for raising the purple dragon, and to have the satisfaction of being able to manipulate and control him! You think _nothing_ of me! Only that I'm _lower_ than you! _Especially_ you, Sparx!"

"What?! Wh-wh-what does he mean, S-S-Sp-Sparx?!" Nina demanded through her wracking sobs.

"Spyro, Mum and Dad don't _know_ the prophecies and legends of the dragons, so stop trying to make stuff up to fit your sick, twisted beliefs!" Sparx shouted. "The only reason _I_ know of the prophecies and legends is because you and I spent so much time among the guardians during the war, and even in the year afterwards that I had spent with you in Warfang! But before that, we didn't even _know_ you were a dragon of _legend_! _I_ didn't know! _You_ didn't even know you were a _dragon_ , PERIOD!

"And all those times I called myself your better, called myself the god of the atlawa… they were all jokes! You _know_ how I am! That's just me! I _like_ to joke about things! I never meant for those jokes to come off like _this_ , and I'm so sorry if what I said _did_ hurt you, but what you are doing now is _no way_ to go about it!"

"Oh, Sparx. Trying to lie your way out of trouble _again_. It won't work this time, Sparx," Spyro replied with an evil smirk. "I… see… through… you. I know what you are, and there's nothing you can say or do that will change how I see you. You're _all_ a family of liars! It's no surprised that you kept my identity hidden from me until you were forced to tell me who I was because I breathed fire! But I've had _enough_ of the lies now! You were _never_ my family!"

"Spyro, we _did_ care for you!" Nina protested, her voice quivering. "We didn't tell you that you were a dragon because we wanted you to be safe! We knew how dangerous the outside world was, and we didn't want you to become endangered by it! We _loved_ you! You were our _son_! We _wanted_ you around! _I_ wanted you around! I was _proud_ to be your mother, not for status like you're accusing us of, but because of the lovely, respectful little boy I got to raise and love as my own!"

"You were _never_ my mother, Nina!" Spyro roared, face contorting with anger. "Just a _fraud_ who thought she could raise a _dragon_ as a _dragonfly_! Heh, how that _backfired_ on you!"

Nina shrunk into Flash's arms once more. She had never seen a grown dragon angry. Hell, she had never seen a dragon angry, _period_. Spyro had never been an angry child and had aspired to treat everyone with the most respect a child could give to them. He had loved Flash and Nina intently, as if they were his real parents, and he even loved Sparx just as much, even though he had to put up with all of Sparx's 'fat' remarks and other perks. Seeing a dragon angry for the first time would be incredibly scary for a creature as small as a dragonfly. Even a _child_ could be quite scary when they were angry, which Spyro knew could be quite intense after seeing some kids go _off_ back in Warfang. Hell, a _youngling_ could fit at least a dragonfly's _whole arm_ inside their mouth, which would allow them to devour a dragonfly in maybe five bites. A _fully-grown_ dragon was something entirely different, and anger from _any_ grown dragon was something for _anyone_ to be afraid of, dragon or not. So for a _dragonfly_ , Spyro could only _imagine_ how terrified Nina was.

Spyro let out a low chuckle before he lashed out and smacked Flash forcefully in the back, causing him to drop Nina as he was thrown forwards from the force of the slap. Spyro caught Flash in his forepaw before the momentum would carry him too far away, and a devilish grin pulled at his lips.

"Don't hurt me Spyro, please! Please, I beg of you! If you don't want us to be your family, then fine, but please just don't hurt us, and stop this nonsense!" Flash pleaded as he struggled in Spyro's grip, his eyes glued onto Spyro. More specifically, his eyes were glued onto Spyro's massive jaws that were now looming in front of him.

"You foolish gnat," Spyro growled. "I am doing what I have to do, and if you can't accept it, then you'll just have to suffer, just like the rest of your family will."

Spyro let out a devilish cackle, his maw hanging open, the massive saliva-dripping fangs looming over Flash. Spyro suddenly threw the blue dragonfly into his maw, forcing a scream of terror out of Flash's lungs. He closed his jaws tightly on Flash, causing a heavy crunch to fill the air, followed by a spray of watery-green blood that burst from the dragonfly's body. The gore spilled down the Dark Overlord's bottom lip, before he threw his head back and swallowed the corpse whole.

Nina was howling, lying on the ground curled up in a ball as she had no energy left to keep herself flying in the air. Sparx wavered in mid-air, horrified at the death of his father. Spyro had never seen Sparx cry so hard. Truth be told, he'd never seen Sparx cry _at all_ , having never showed a lot of emotion as a child. Seeing him crying earlier on had been a little bit of a surprise, but now every single emotional wall had been torn down, leaving Sparx a weeping mess.

Spyro chuckled again, running his wet tongue along his bottom lip to scoop up the dragonfly guts that had spilled out of his mouth. He let out a low, gurgling growl of content as he relished the taste of blood, before he tipped his head back and swallowed the remaining gore.

The malevolent purple dragon gave a low chuckle as he looked at Sparx, who shivered with terror. "Oh, are you _scared_ of me now?" he chastised with a laugh. "I'm sorry, I thought you were 'family'. I thought you said you ' _cared_ about me'. Being _afraid_ of each other isn't an option in a family, or at least I don't _think_ so. But, I guess that's what happens when you try to play with something that you can't control and think yourself better than fate itself, thinking you _can_ control it. Dragonflies raising a dragon? _Ridiculous_."

"Spyro… what _are_ you?!" Sparx whimpered. Spyro's smirk of satisfaction widened, exposing his big, gore-streaked fangs. "This isn't the brother I remember. What _happened_ to you?"

"I _learned_ things, Sparx. I learned more than you could ever imagine! I learned how little our kind really cares for each other! They reprimand each other because of disabilities, dysfunctions, mental issues, and race. At first I thought it was just a dragon thing, but now? Now I see it's _more_ than that. Other species do it too! The _dragonflies_ do it! What species will discriminate others next? Cheetahs? Moles? Atlawa? The world is _filled_ with people who _don't give a damn_ , and I must save the world by bringing about equality and _eliminating_ those that think themselves higher than another!"

" _Destruction_?! This is not _you_ , Spyro!" Sparx yelled.

Spyro's eyes widened at hearing the golden dragonfly shout. Sparx used to get angry, sure, but he went about it in a more subtle tone, either grumbling or mumbling rude remarks before giving the silent treatment. He hardly _ever_ yelled in anger.

Nina's howls from below as she lay on the ground seemed to get harsher as she heard Sparx shout. Her two sons were fighting. Not play-fighting, but _truly_ fighting. And not only was she absolutely _petrified_ of Spyro, she was now afraid for Sparx too; he was treading on some _very_ dangerous ground here.

He could die just like Flash.

"You've been away from me for seven years, Sparx! I've changed! Maybe this _is_ me!" Spyro replied.

"No! I _refuse_ to believe that! What _are_ you, Spyro?! This is _not_ the dragon I remembered!" Sparx screamed. "Killing fathers?! Mates?! Killing _kids_?! _Eating_ people?! You would _never_ have even _dreamed_ of doing those things as a kid, or when you first started fighting in the war, but _now_ look at you! WHAT ARE YOU?!"

"I'm surprised you don't know, Sparx. You of all dragonflies should be able to know, especially since you were right with me the whole time I fought in that _damned_ war!"

"Spyro, stop being scary! Just _stop_ it!" Sparx screamed, tears streaming down his face as he choked on them. "I don't know! I feel like I don't know _anything_ about you anymore! I knew you _so well_ , but now I _don't_! Who the hell even _are_ you?!"

"Will this help you?" he chuckled darkly, before he knocked Sparx out of the air and slammed his heavy paw down on top of him, pinning the dragonfly to the ground as he shrieked in fear, staring up into Spyro's hideous red eyes. Nina screamed in fear as well, believing Sparx was going to die as well. Spyro's eyes weren't red for much longer as they suddenly glowed a bright white, a shroud of dark energy enveloping his body, turning it black. Spyro roared long and loud, showing off his wet, bright pink throat and colossal yellow, gore-streaked fangs. Sparx howled in fear, tears streaming down his face as flecks of sticky saliva flew from Spyro's bulging wet throat and onto his face. The little dragonfly started squirming underneath Spyro's claws and slavering jaws in a desperate attempt to escape, unable to hear his mother's despairing, fearful screams and pleas over his own screaming and Spyro's deafening roar, which was causing his ears to ring profusely.

The Dark Overlord shut his maw and withdrew the darkness around him, his scales fading back to their usual dark indigo colour and the white glow in his eyes faded, revealing the blood-red reptilian orbs underneath. Sparx lay whimpering in Spyro's grasp as he finally realised what had happened. He remembered that dark, shadowy form he had turned into. How could he forget? Dark Spyro had haunted his nightmares as he hibernated in the Time Crystal, as well as most nights after they were released from it. He couldn't forget the pain of watching his foster brother turn into a dark, bloodthirsty creature inside the Well of Souls. That power had finally taken a hold of him, and the real Spyro was gone.

No, not gone. Dead. Spyro was dead.

Sparx wept in Spyro's grasp, giving up the fight against trying to be strong, against believing that Spyro had become a savage beast. "I loved you, Spyro! I _loved_ you!" Sparx sobbed, his voice hoarse and breaking pitifully as he choked on his tears. He gave a wet, forceful sniffle as he tried to clear his sinuses, but the relentless stream of tears wouldn't let him. "I-I-I never said it and never showed it, but I _loved_ you, Spyro! You were the only brother I had! You were the only _dragon_ I had! Deep down, all that time, I _knew_ y-y-you weren't like me, b-b-but I loved you _nonetheless_! N-n-not so I-I-I-I could tease you, but just because I had s-s-someone to play games i-i-in the swamp with! Someone who I-I-I c-could call on if I was afraid or worried! I-I-I know now I _should_ have said I loved you a-a-and… and… and m-m-maybe that might have s-s-st-sto-opped th-this, b-b-but now it's t-t-too l-la-late, and I-I'm sorry!"

"Enough with the waterworks, Sparx. You look disgusting." Spyro scoffed, turning his head away and faking a gag, before looking back down at the golden dragonfly and teasing him. "I'm not even sure you'll please my appetite; you'll just make me _sick_."

"Y-y-y-you're ma-m-mad! You're j-j-just l-li-like _him_!"

"Like _Malefor_? Eh, I _guess_ you could say that. _Cynder's_ likened me to my predecessor, so you could say I _am_ like him. But unlike Malefor, I have motives to save the world for _good_. I only have the power of darkness to aid me; I can't achieve my goals of bringing equality without going down this path."

"H-h-h-how c-can you say you h-h-have m-m-mo-motives for g-good when you've j-j-just k-killed _two people_ in f-f-fr-front of my eyes?! Not only my father, but a _child_! Y-Y-YOU'RE S-S-S-SICK! DO THE _GUARDIANS_ KNOW YOU'RE D-D-DOING THIS?!"

"Of _course_ they do. _I killed them too_ ," Spyro chuckled.

Sparx was speechless. He had lost all hope in Spyro now. He heard his mother screaming in desperation a few metres away, still lying on the ground where she had been dropped. "WHY?!" Sparx screamed. "Th-th-they w-were your… your… your c-c-closest a-a-allies and fr-fr-friends! They taught you wh-wh-what it meant to _be_ a d-d-d-dr-dra-agon! WHY W-W-WOULD YOU KILL THEM, AFTER ALL THAT THEY _DID_ FOR YOU?!"

"What they _did_ was they _forced_ me to fight a war they _couldn't_. A mere _child_! They were _never_ my friends! _Allies_ , maybe, but only ever during the Dark War! Even _I_ was a victim of being called a minority, so I know _damn_ well that it needs to be fixed! The _guardians_ thought themselves better than me! In _their_ eyes, they were too _precious_ and _important_ to be killed and sacrificed in war! What better idea than to sacrifice a _child_ and _destroy_ his innocence?! Sure, that child was the purple dragon of legend, but he was still just a _child_! Nobody gave a damn about me, because I was just a hard-labour worker to them!"

Sparx inhaled hoarsely and began howling loudly, his stammering ceasing as he howled each sentence in one breath. "WHERE'S THE DRAGON I KNEW AND LOVED?! THE DRAGON WHO WAS SELFLESS AND WOULD PUT THE NEEDS OF OTHERS ABOVE HIS OWN?! THE DRAGON WHO WOULD PUT UP WITH MY CONSTANT NAGGING AND TEASING… BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANT TO START A FIGHT… AND BECAUSE HE KNEW THAT WAS JUST HOW I ACTED?! _WHERE IS THAT DRAGON_?!"

"THAT DRAGON IS DEAD, SPARX! IF YOU KEEP AT THIS, YOU'LL BE _DEAD_ WITH HIM TOO!" Spyro roared, before Sparx gave up all hope, lying his head down and wailing at the top of his lungs, eyes flooding as tears spilled down his face, clogging up his sinuses even more that he now struggled to breathe, choking and coughing violently in amongst his violent sobs and wails.

With a scoff, Spyro stepped of Sparx, who now curled in on himself, remaining on the ground, wings wrapped over his body. The Dark Overlord then turned and looked at Nina, curled in a foetal position like Sparx a few metres away. He chuckled at the pitiful sight of the two weeping, traumatised dragonflies, before turning and looking towards the corpse of Falka that lay a few more metres away. He walked towards her head, giving it a savage kick, sending it rolling along the swamp floor, leaving a trail of blood as it rolled along the lining of what was once the neck. He then walked over to the headless body, licking the stump of her neck once, revelling in the taste of blood, which was a lot more potent and enjoyable compared to dragonfly gore. He then spread his wings and took off towards Dark Peak, leaving the petrified, wailing, broken family of two behind.

Pah, who cares about family? He didn't need them. They weren't his family anyway. He didn't need his biological family either, _whoever_ they were.

As he flew towards Dark Peak, he began to think of his next step going forwards to achieving his goal.

Back down on the ground, Nina and Sparx had wriggled along the ground towards each other before they embraced, weeping into each other's chests as they remembered what had just happened and mourned over all that could have been. They had both believed that their reunion with Spyro would be loving and happy and a time to rejoice, but this moment had just proved the opposite. And now Flash was dead, taken by the literal jaws of death, swallowed up by the wet, inky, dark abyss that was the Dark Overlord's gullet.

Spyro was dead too, taken by his own inner demons.

Everything had been taken from them. What did they have to live for?

* * *

 **Welp, were you expecting this?**

 **This chapter's been sitting around for a bit so I figured I'd post it. Honestly expected a lot more reviews on the last chapter given that it was Muras' whole backstory, but oh well. I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter though, and also this one.**

 **Anyway though, I'll see you later with the next chapter! Please consider leaving a review because it means a lot and is really helpful.**


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